Hungary continues to have many friends in Germany, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyás, said in Berlin on Monday at the book review of former Interior Minister Imre Kónya’s German-language work, which was attended by several top politicians of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
The fact that the presentation of Imre Kónya’s autobiography was attended by two former Bundestag presidents, Wolfgang Schäuble and Rita Süssmuth, as well as the former head of the government of North Rhine-Westphalia and former candidate for chancellor of the CDU and its sister party, the Bavarian CSU, Armin Laschet, “shows that there are still many people who appreciate Hungary’s role in the political turnaround and know that Hungary, through its work and policies, helps to represent the traditional European idea in Europe and save so much of what Europe used to be in the future,” Gergely Gulyás said.
In his book, Back to Europe – Stories from the Fall of the Wall to Viktor Orbán, the author describes, among other things, how “from the groupings that changed the political system, a small group of young people, Fidesz, emerged under the leadership of Viktor Orbán, and how the central political power structure emerged in which Fidesz gained hegemony.”
Schäuble praised the importance of Hungary’s contribution to the reunification of Germany and to the process of European unification, and stressed the need for a better understanding of the people of Central Europe. It must be recognized that “Europe is not only western Europe, but much more,” he emphasized. However, he also said that he could not understand the Hungarian position on the Russian war against Ukraine.
L-R: Ernő Schaller-Baross, Imre Kónya, and Gergely Gulyás. Photo: Facebook/Schaller-Baross Ernő
Armin Laschet also stressed that Hungary and “courageous” Hungarians like Imre Kónya, who stood up for democracy long before the fall of the communist regime, played an important role in restoring his country’s unity.
He added that there were many ways in Germany to honor Hungary for its contribution to reunification, but that was not enough; in the coming period, “Germany’s gratitude must also be made visible in Hungary.”
Armin Laschet criticized the policies of the current Social Democrat-led federal government and expressed concern about the state of German-Hungarian government relations.
He pointed out that “even if we have disputes, we have to talk to each other,” and that “the lack of dialogue is not foreign policy.”
Rita Süssmuth expressed similar sentiments, stressing that “we must not give up on Hungary.”
At a panel discussion at the Hungarian Embassy in Berlin in front of almost a hundred invited guests, including numerous politicians and diplomats, Gulyás emphasized that Germany is Hungary’s most important partner, “in good times as well as in difficult ones. He also said “it is a sad and difficult” situation that reports and debates about Hungary in the German press are not based on facts. Those who want to learn about the situation in Hungary should not study the German press, he underlined.
Via Ungarn Heute, Featured photo: Embassy of Hungary in Berlin, Facebook