Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Thursday he “very much appreciated” the mayor of Budapest’s proposal to observe a minute of silence on the centenary of the Trianon Peace Treaty.
Answering a reporter’s question after parliament’s commemorative session, Orbán said that “this is the right conduct on June 4, since Budapest is the capital of the nation”. “We may have political differences but we all belong to the same Hungarian nation,” the prime minister said.
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Mayor Gergely Karácsony had earlier proposed that the city should “stand still” at 4:30pm on Thursday with all traffic interrupted for a minute to mark the anniversary of the post-WWI treaty. However, the proposal was received coldly by ruling Fidesz. The party’s communications director, István Hollik, said that this was just yet another “marketing hook” from Karácsony. In his view, “the mayor and his political allies have proven countless times earlier that they don’t bear in their hearts the fate of Hungarians beyond the borders.” Furthermore, the government did not support the proposal of Karácsony’s party, Párbeszéd, on the subject citing the same reasoning.
Featured photo by Zoltán Balogh/MTI