Despite a smear campaign in the German press, Hungary’s relationship with the country remains strong, Gergely Gulyás, ruling Fidesz group leader, has said.
Hungary-Germany relations are “alive and functioning”, he announced during an event organized by the Nézőpont Institute and the Hungarian bureau of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.
He added that Germany is Hungary’s most important partner, and economic relations coupled with unique cultural and person-to-person ties are exceptionally strong.
“If you look at Hungary and compare it to the image drawn by the German press, then it is obvious that the two are not even distantly related,” he said.
Attempts to discredit Hungary by the press started seven years ago and the issue of migration has only served to intensify them, he said. He insisted the German press were not free but “partially free at best”.
Gulyás said that “much of the hatred of Hungary present in the German press” stemmed from differences in how the two countries’ values have progressed over time. He argued that differences in social development in the two countries had brought about differences in values.
“In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with this,” Gulyás said. “The question is whether we take on an exclusionary attitude [towards these differences], as the German press has, or whether we are capable of accepting that worlds that are different from ours can also be complete and functional.”
Gulyás said this was also at the heart of the dispute surrounding the issue of migration. Hungary and Germany will never agree on whether immigration is good or bad, he added.
He added that Hungary and Germany should both aim to broaden social support in their countries for Hungarian-German relations, which has a strong future.