“Temesvár has always been a famous and important city. It was Hungary's most important fortress against the Turks and, if lost, the country lost,” the prime minister said in opening his remarks Saturday evening, adding that “it experienced its moment in global history as part of Romania in 1989, when the world first learned its name.”
On Saturday, Prime Minister Orbán participated in the commemoration in the city, where the Hungarian National Council of Transylvania has organized a program that will last several days honoring the anniversary of the revolution that started 30 years ago.
“Citizens of Temesvár and Romania have shown the world that we, Central Europeans, even at the expense of our lives, will take back our freedom,” said PM Orbán.
“Hungarians remembered that in 1956, after the Polish and the Hungarians in Romania, the Romanians were the most supportive of the revolutionaries. Thank you,” Orbán continued.
“The people of Central Europe have always known that they would never receive freedom from the great powers […] We wanted freedom. We fought and our heroes gave their blood for it. This is our common glory – Polish, Czech, Slovak, Romanian and Hungarian,” he said.
After commemorating this heroic past, the prime minister turned to the future and asked, “Do we, when Romanians and Hungarians come together, also want to think about a common future? Do we, could we, have common goals?”
Answering his own question, PM Orbán said, “I see great opportunities for Romanians and Hungarians to have common goals in the future.”
“We Hungarians want to get out of the position of being in Europe’s second line,” Viktor Orbán continued. “We want to be among the European countries where it is best to live, create and reside. Hungary wants to enjoy the best and cleanest natural environment and remains one of the safest countries in the world.”
“We Hungarians believe that this goal can be achieved more easily together with our neighbors than by ourselves,” the prime minister said. “Therefore, we are ready to build a new Central Europe together with our neighbors.”
Concluding his remarks, PM Orbán stated, “We want a Central Europe that is not only a supplier to Western European economies, but also one of the most successful and competitive regions in the world, where everyone has a job, where workers return and where the biggest problem is what to do with job seekers from Western Europe.”
“If we work together, if we cooperate, it will become possible and this will be the new European reality.”
Photo credit: Magyar HÍrlap