Speaking at an event in Prague’s National Museum commemorating the 30th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution, Prime Minister Orbán said that thirty years ago we, Central Europeans, showed the world that “we can die for our country and for Europe, but we also know how to live for it and work for it.” Fate is no longer the only thing that binds us together, the PM said, our goals for the future are common, too.
“The cooperation of Central European countries is engraved in the hearts of Central European people,” the prime minister said, adding that the coming years will be all about the success of Central Europe and the Visegrád Four.
In the prime minister’s view, “the fates of our people are intertwined many times over the course of the last one thousand years” and we have shared a particular fate since 1945, when Czechs, Slovaks and Poles – as well as Hungarians – were “awarded” the Soviet communist dictatorship.
In the 1980’s, PM Orbán reminded, the Czech and Polish anti-communist resistance stood as an example for Hungarian youth. We learned techniques that helped us dismantle the communist regime.
“Being a 68’er in Western Europe is fundamentally different from being a 68’er in Central Europe,” the prime minister said, adding that Western 68’ers would deconstruct the Europe built on nation states and Christian culture, while Central Europeans fought to regain these foundations. “We are Central European democrats,” he continued, “we must protect national sovereignty because if we surrender it, then democracy will also be gone.”
Central Europeans have their own language, Prime Minister Orbán said in closing, the language of freedom, independence and solidarity with each other.
“In the big family of European peoples, this language lends us an independent, definite voice. It is thanks to this voice that Central Europe today is not only a geographic term, but a political, economic and cultural reality,” PM Orbán said.
Photo credit: Magyar Hírlap