The speech of Mr Viktor Orbán delivered at the Convention of Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union

Dátum: 2004-04-13 14:01:00, eredeti URL: http://archiv.fidesz.hu/index.php?Cikk=22238
KCMDB-be feltöltve: 2024-05-04 19:52:44.607715, Feltöltő: fidesz_hu_scraper_v2

"You may only improve the lot of your people

or that of mankind having bettered yourself in the first place"

My heart-felt greetings to all of you on the occasion of Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Union inaugural convention. Greetings to all who are present here, greetings to all of those who have tuned us in whether on radio or television, and very special greetings to our fellow-Magyars following this event beyond the borders.

Well, our dear Friends, those of us participating in public affairs often remind ourselves that changes need be done. Frequently though, we set about to alter the exterior which happens to be around us. Often we conclude that others must change rather than to compel ourselves to do likewise. No wonder then that often times we act improperly or mistakenly having laboured under a false premise demanding changes to come about elsewhere other than within ourselves. Yet if we were in earnest about effecting changes we would begin by putting our own house into order. It is up to us to change, hopefully for the better so that we may exert improvements on the world around us. That is because: "You may only improve the lot of your people or that of mankind having bettered yourself in the first place", just as Sándor Weöres the poet had told us.

My Ladies and Gentlemen, dear Friends, coming to think of it, all participants in public life ought to ask themselves first and foremost the question as to how I might improve myself to become a better person? The answer is simple: we may only improve the community's standing providing that we render ourselves not only better as human beings but to be more honourable and solicitous also. I do hope that we have all concluded our respective self-examination. About a year ago we also gave ourselves the task of how to correct our shortcomings. How to make Fidesz fit to accept all-comers, people from all walks of life, so that as to accommodate everyone by taking to heart all their daily tribulations. At the time we told ourselves that the direction for us to follow was to turn our party into a broad-based Union, a true people's party in the generic sense. Let me quote you from our Charta we compiled last year: "In forging this covenant on 17 May 2003, Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Union comes into being which shall await all those concerned citizens professing the same values and ready to share in the responsibility we are about to assume for the fate of our nation. Our Union is to be founded on the bases of Christian morality, liberty, law and order and the supremacy of Nature's Will." You will recall, too that in addition we affirmed that politics only amounted to a service offered. In this manner we noted that public life devoid of the public itself and in which only politicians hug the scene becomes very much like a banquet at which only the waiters had turned up. For this very good reason we should avoid cramming public affairs within the confines of Parliament's sturdy walls. Possibly, what the public required, we continued in our reasoning, was something more than a traditional political party vehicle, what was needed in fact was a true Union which to ensure that public affairs would be not conducted over our heads but in our midst instead. Let us turn to our Charta again: "We pledge ourselves to build a future for our nation atop freedom and responsibility rather than to let us fall for the mirage of dubious promises, yet again. Our Union is intended to embrace all deemed essential to this nation: dignity of the individual, our heritage, culture and language, the future of our families, the talent of our youth, respectability of old age, our Magyar brethren cast beyond the borders, our homeland, the Hungarian farmland and our remaining common assets. We strike this Union so that an economic base suitable to foster domestic interests be installed in order to recover a sense of material security in people badly shaken since the fall of communism."

Dear Friends, we have embarked on our journey of self-renewal replete with hope and a degree of seriousness commensurate with the task in hand. As we stated in conclusion to our Charta: "It is our hope that our Union shall strengthen the national unity, further we affirm that within our Union we shall promote the cause of a strong and united Hungarian Nation. Furthermore, we hope that our Union shall engender mutual trust, fraternity and empathy among Hungarians. We reaffirm our ardent belief in the strength of brotherly love and joining together as one people."

Well, having identified the course along which to proceed in rectifying our personal and collective deficit, we got down to business. We realized that the upcoming battle would not be about our past four years in office (1998-2002) for that war had been fought. We learnt that in our new departures we were supposed to find answers for problems arising here and now. It was our stated opinion that what we undertook was not for any prize or glory or even victory itself but rather it was the common endeavour that was to make us stout.

Dear Friends of mine, time allotted for renewal has been spent, the grace period has elapsed. I am pleased to report to you hereby that we have reorganized not only our party, but we believe we created a new climate for the conduct of Hungary's public affairs as well. We did manage to bring about the opportunity for anyone in this country - men or women, farmers, workers or intellectuals, young and old alike who can now take a hand in ordaining their lives once again. All this so that they may find their own way to join our Union and thereby the ways and means to be involved in public life. It's my pleasure to announce establishment of no fewer than eight platforms to date dedicated to advance the individual interests of women, pensioners, industrial labour, local government, countryside, environmental protection, culture and the farming community. Every one of them began to function in accordance with our Charta's provisions. Due to their widening presence, the spirit of our message along with our words of encouragement and offer of help gotten carried far off the beaten track. Also it is my pleasant duty to report to you that we established the Foundation for the Civic Hungary for which we owe a great deal of gratitude to dr. György Matolcsy (PM Orbán's economics minister). In addition, we have set up the Forum for Health Policy, thanks to dr. István Mikola (ex-health minister). As well as having formed the Church Affairs Committee through the good offices of dr. Péter Harrach (ex-welfare minister), its president and dr. Zoltán Balog, its director general. Along the way we have commissioned the "Free Europe Centre" under the guidance of dr. János Martonyi (ex-minister for foreign affairs). Apart from making the centre a reality we owe a round of thanks to him and his associates for producing our comprehensive Europe Concept, which soon will be debated within the platforms. Meanwhile the Programme proper will be unveiled at the opening of our campaign on 9 May by dr. Pál Schmitt, our vice-president and designated chief of our European Parliamentary team. Also, it's my pleasant duty to report to you that we did manage to strengthen our ties with several political groups now affiliated with our Union: the Hungarian Christian Democratic Association (MKDSZ), Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP), the Smallholder's Civic Association and Roma (Gypsy) Lungo Drom. Allow me thank every rank and file member and the executives of all these groups for their dedication and hard work. Our joint accomplishments do enable me to declare with confidence that there has been no community defining itself as a patriotic centre-right political force as strong and united as ours for the past half a century. Far from me to get carried away with such a heady statement because of the favourable findings of public opinion polls, as of late. Don't we know only too well that such flattering figures ought to be handled with care. As for myself I like to treat public opinion polls results very much like eau de cologne: let us appreciate its fragrance but it is not recommended for libation.

Friends, yet another pleasant duty of mine is to report formation of as many as 140 of our local groups since last May, which translates into a permanent presence in locations where we were previously known only by name. Altogether we can be found in twice as many towns and villages. All this and we have not yet spared a word of recognition for the network of our civic circles. Please allow me to thank each and everyone participant for the valuable work of this unique congregation, done in almost every settlement - big and small throughout this land. A special vote of thanks goes to our dear friend dr. Csaba Hende (ex-secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice) my fellow-MP, for his devotion and steady leadership having made his sterling contribution to our lasting benefit always with alacrity and utmost humility.

There is still more good news for me to report. Namely, that out of a total of 176 constituency presidents altogether 167 of them are already in place and at work on our behalf. Out of this tally some 99 of the constituency presidents already tried their luck on the hustings, some of them twice, while 77 of them are brand new entries into the political field. As far as Budapest is concerned, out of the 32 city constituencies, 14 presidents remain from the 'old guard' while 18 constituencies will welcome new blood rearing to go. One more reason to rejoice, methinks, is the fact that 16% of our membership comes from pensioners, definitely the older age group. For the record, our oldest member's 99 years of age. This elderly gentleman lives in the small village of Ócsa, he was born in 1905. May God keep him safe and sound for many more years to come. Here are some more statistics: out of our total membership women comprise some 42%. Just one more statistical curiosity for you to conjure with: among our membership altogether 37 lovely people celebrate their birthdays today. God bless them one and all. All in all, here is the bottom line for everyone to see: the work we took upon ourselves less than a year ago has been accomplished. Today, on 27 March 2004, the Hungarian model of a European people's party was born. I am full of gratitude for all the hard work that went into this achievement and my personal thanks to each one of you who helped us to come this far.

Now let us turn our attention to the present. Our great romantic novelist Mór Jókai in his futuristic novel - Visions of the Next Century - draws a remarkable picture of the Hungary he had envisaged for the 20th-21st centuries. In his crystal ball he saw a country hopelessly mired in political discord, social strife and economic chaos. Tell me, Friends, what special gift is needed to foretell the unknown ever so accurately. In my view only he who stands firmly on the ground here and now should contemplate a glimpse of the future. Only he who is confident as to where he comes from should be daring enough to pronounce on the shape of things yet to come. Only such a particular person, in possession of his faculties to appraise and command that evolves around him in the present tense could only see far, clearly enough, to predict developments out of the blue yonder. Unless we come face to face with the present we fail to see the outlines. All that it can produce is a confusing blur. The kind of meaningless blotch thrown up in front of our people for decades on. In those days, rather than coming to grips with reality we were told to gaze expectantly at the red sun rising in the East while now we are advised to train our eyes on Brussels in the West. We are constantly abuilding either socialism or the so-called modern version of the republic. Generations grew up without ever having taken even a morsel from the promised welfare that somehow always managed to stay tantalizingly out of their reach. Amid the great expectations we later came to recognize that we had had our belt tightened already up to the very last notch. There were those among us who thought that the welfare transition means welfare to come. They were to find out at their own expense that welfare was indeed in short supply.

Dear Friends, I do wonder whether you have thought of the Oriental wisdom which holds out not four but five directions of the compass in addition to the traditional north and south or east and west axis. In Oriental minds there is yet another aspect of the universe with which to contend: that is the position of the observer himself. In the Far Eastern vernacular it is known as the ubiquitous fifth direction. We brought about this Union of ours precisely because we wanted to get to the bottom of our everyday business. For this very reason we have invented our Hungarian version of the European popular political movement. This was to be in order for us to become the political party of the future as well as the present. We have done so because we wanted to pay some attention to this fifth direction of our compass. Last May we spoke of a covenant for the future. Today we can proclaim ourselves to be the people's party of the present, too. A band that binds us together, a concentration of power which can relieve us of the dead wait of inertia experienced in this country of ours nowadays.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let us recognize once and for all that it is not Hungary that must measure up to Europe but our wages and pensions which ought to aim at continental parity. We are desirous of a secure and cosy Hungary. A land where one's toil commands respect. In fact, a land where solely honest work commands due respect. If all that this much wanted "modern republic" has to offer is merely fiscal restrictions, unemployment, the chance of one's own home lost, banking scandals, inflation and a soaring indebtedness then Hungarians will not want to be a part of it. What we're after is not so much a "modern" contraption of sorts but a secure existence in which labour and welfare belong together. The average Hungarian pursues a dream of a life contingent of productive work. In their minds universal welfare is a natural consequence of honest labour. They strive to arrive in a land where an honest day's work and just rewards go hand in hand. But what do we have here instead? Growing uncertainty all around us. The air of uncertainty permeates our environs in which the individual is held to ransom. Old people and families with youngsters of their own equally feel beholden to uncertainty of one kind or another but mainly because they have no money for essential medications. The unemployed is held to ransom but the worker still with a job feels equally insecure not knowing when his employment might be terminated. The elderly who have completed a life of toil feels just as much held to ransom when unable to scrape by on a pittance 30-50 000 HUF monthly pension (approx. 120-180 euros).

As far as prices are concerned these already reached European levels, in some instances even exceeding that yardstick. By painful comparison, wages and salaries hardly moved to narrow a yawning gap. Feeling equally beholden to merciless circumstances happen to be those among us who have lost all hope of putting a roof over their own heads. Equally beholden to the same unenviable fate are those among us who have but a few years to go what once looked like well-deserved retirement. For they cannot divine whether there is going to be enough money in the pension funds to cover their meagre monthly cheques given their country's headlong flight into gross indebtedness. Equally trapped in the shackles of ransom are those among us who till the land for a living but who do not receive fiscal support that is due to them and which are obtained by their western counterparts. Feeling equally beholden to wavered fortune are those among us who risk their skills and capital as entrepreneurs in face of rising taxation. Under Government's punitive fiscal measures there seems to be an inexhaustible permutation as to how many times one can skin a cat. The whole country's economy daily grows in its vulnerability to being held to ransom. It is a truism that one who falls into debt loses his independence. Collectively we end up doing more and more of the lenders' bidding. No doubt they are going to be driven by their own venal instincts, at all times. In other words, Friends, our country's room for independent manoeuvrings is being reduced in a direct proportion to our rising pile of debts. Lost into the pits is our ability to exercise a free will. What should be our advice under such dire circumstances? How could we have slid so fast and so far downhill?

All of us are aware that we all live a dream. Barely 15 years ago we too had a dream. Those of us who worked for a change of regimes dreamt of unfettered freedom and ironclad security. Freedom in thought and ideals, security for a family's everyday existence and in our jobs. We were not reaching for the sky, as you well know. We went after only the same creature comforts taken for granted in those luckier lands west of us. Thanks to technology, we can do a 'fast rewind' on our own lives as well as the history in which we all shared once upon a time. Very much doubt that I was alone with a lump in my throat here a little while ago watching the second newsreel clip. In those days, we had hoped that eventually everyone of us was going to have a meaningful employment, employment bringing decent rewards. What happened along the way? We believed that everyone of us eventually could provide a home for himself and his family. Do we stand a chance for this today? We held that those who had worked all their lives deserved a decent retirement. We wanted conditions in which an average citizen need not fear inability to meet his basic overheads. Had this come to pass? We longed to see the countryside awakening with a breath of fresh air ushering in a new golden age of prosperity for our farmers. Did this work out, as expected? What do we hear as lame excuses? "That is not how the market economy is working. / There are some inescapable rules to all this. / The world economy is changing. / There is no money for this. / We would have loved to have done it but something has cropped up. / We have not yet got a precise overview. / Maybe we do not need so many farmers after all, we favour having more brokers instead." etc.

Dear Friends, if our former younger and idealistic selves saw us right now they could not possibly comprehend all the contradictions that surround us now. Those earlier alter egos of ours in all probability would turn on their heels to walk away from us in disgust. Naturally this would be not a fair verdict on us as we did accomplish more than a few things during the past decade and a half. We thought up this and that and some of those got built. There is but one point on which we would have to concede having cheated our earlier selves. That is that in essence a change in the political system has substantially evaded us. Yet time and again our coveted goals seemed within an arm's reach. Somehow though we got derailed yet again. As if for some reason we were incapable to scale the heights. As if we found ourselves laden with an immense millstone around our necks.

The sad truth, my Friends, happens to be that we remained conspicuously unable to bring about simultaneously freedom and security. Anyone unlucky have fallen out of the cradle of security is unlikely to become compensated by a sensation of freedom. True freedom is only to be grasped if one is succeeded in raising an umbrella of security over his family. Anyone who had been tossed out of that cradle of security loses his friendly disposition towards freedom also. This unfortunate victim of circumstances might even feel abandoned by an entire nation. Suddenly the noble concepts of a nation, community, that of belonging, shared destiny could easily have become empty phrases for him since he has been made an outcast among his own people unable to guarantee him and his family the basics of life. I say to you Friends, we cannot divorce ourselves from our original goals. We will continue to demand freedom and security all at once. We do need both and there is going to be no compromise over these two matters. We simply cannot slacken in our determination to achieve both goals. Let me tell you why. That is because freedom is when you smile at a stranger and security is when that stranger smiles back at you. In a symbiotic relationship security fosters freedom while freedom makes security meaningful. The main reason why a majority of Hungarians opted for a change of regimes way back then was because most of them lacked one or the other mainstay of life along with some people who were bereft of both. For goodness sake, why on earth should we have wished for a change of a political system?

Ladies and Gentlemen and Friends, I do humbly accept that we Hungarians committed numerous mistakes in the course of the 20th century. Nevertheless, it is my belief that collectively our virtues far outweigh our sins. Putting it altogether, the Hungarians happen to be an upright, hardworking, talented and respectable people. There is absolutely no justification why millions of us should be living in extreme hardship while dragging into doubt the validity of freedom because of our unenviable circumstances. I would wish to encourage you to continue to have faith in yourselves. Keep the faith within our Hungarian souls. Let us not doubt for a moment our ability to rise to the challenge of our destiny. Let us confirm our beliefs that together we can remain in this Carpathian basin creating and maintaining freedom and security to surround our homes embedded in prosperity, in culture. Friends, coming to think of it that despite a series of disappointments we remain full of ideas, energy, determination and confidence to match. This is the sort of determination and the kind of confidence that we very much would like to use for the benefit of the individual and the entire nation. To be sure, there comes the occasion when we can tempt fate once more as well as to deliver with relative ease on the promise we gave ourselves. To be sure the hand of fate or our own self-inflicted mistakes or because of our cunning opponents on occasion could slow our progress. Disappointments just as much are part of life as success, sunshine, recognition or love. No difficulty ever should prove insurmountable for us, nor should anything be allowed to halt us in our tracks, let alone making us give up what we believe in by turning bitter and lose our zest and vitality. You have shown proof enough in the immense work that you have put into organizing the Union of retaining ample reserves of goodwill, of commitment beside a surfeit of zest and vitality to meet new challenges. All this good tidings could not come at a better time as our fellow Hungarians will be needing you and us soon enough.

We have arrived at our next important staging post. We are about to join the European Union. Our act of accession will only be benign to our people if doing so enhances freedom and security for an entire nation. We chose to join only because we wanted an easier and happier life for ourselves. We are not joining merely to expand Europe or its markets for some of its leading companies. Certainly we are not about to take this crucial step in order to come up with still another historic date for our little ones to cram at school. Mark my word that on the next day, May 2, we are going to wake up right here where we are now. Not withstanding the auspicious occasion the day before it is going to be right here where we are going to go to work, where our children continue to grow up, where we must make life into a success story and where we should be taking care of our aging parents. As we are going to find out for ourselves life within EU consists mostly of mundane workdays. All that is going to happen on 1 May is that Europe becomes synonymous with Hungary for us. This change of mental attitude ought to be the same for us as it was for the French for whom France became one and the same as Europe or the Germans whose motherland, too, got equated with Europe at large. In short, we are stepping up to EU effecting numerous changes in the process that we may remain very much the same as we were before. According to historians ancient Rome grew into a vast empire because its citizens adored it. Similarly, we should adore Hungary in the same generous fashion for her to become a strong and secure homeland for all of us within the folds of a Europe now reunited. Normally one does not love one's country simply because it happens to be big, but because it belongs to him and his kith and kin dwell within.

Ladies and Gentlemen, all we want is to see every Hungarian to be a beneficiary of our EU membership. We cannot afford to leave anyone in a vulnerable position. Fittingly in line with our new status, Hungary's first genuine people's party cannot leave anyone behind at the roadside. Everyone should be made to feel at home within our congregation, everyone ought to be an insider with us. We stand steadfastly shoulder to shoulder with them. This sense of togetherness should be perceptible by one and all including those who had not voted for us at the last elections. No two ways about it, our accession will have to provide security for all of us. Our accession will be judged as a success only if in doing so every family here can wrap itself into its own 'security blanket'. After all we have traditionally looked upon Europe as our primary refuge in times of danger. Throughout history we helped to defend Europe. Alas, she seldom rushed to our rescue. The time has come for reciprocity - to claim our fair share of security within the parameters of fortress Europe. We have every right to expect the concession of admission.

Dear Friends, let us not beat around the bush: it is hardly the best of times for Hungary to be joining the EU. These are hard times here as the days of full security have become a thing of the past. No longer can any job be counted as safe, the value of our earnings has been thrown into doubt. The youth has been left to its own devices. Meanwhile pensioners can only count with certainty on their staples becoming more expensive by the day. The sense of security no longer prevails, an entire country appears to be sinking into the sea of insecurity. For reasons such as these, our chance for a safe docking into the EU's harbour is endangered. Unless we act promptly to regain a modicum of security then our accession may bring still more uncertainties upon us, of which we have already aplenty. Even now we can act in order to avoid such a fate. Wherever you look there is no one in Hungary today who could guarantee comprehensive security for us. We have no other choice but to join hand in hand with the rest of the population to defend the integrity of our accession. Indeed, a secure accession remains still a possibility even at this late hour.

This aim may be accomplished by lowering cost of medications, by halting hospital privatisation, if we defend our jobs, if we support our farmers, if we rein in the utility cost increases. In other words, if we amend the last state budget. As the first people's party in Hungary, we stand at the ready to do just that. In an attempt to compel Parliament to reopen the budget debate, we are immediately launching a nationwide petition to collect no fewer than one million signatures to back up our case for a secure future. Friends, the time is here to make our move to emulate for ourselves the triple underpinnings of European security: employment, housing and all-round security. The time has come for us to put an end once and for all to our vulnerability. We do feel strong enough to make good on each of our demands. I ask you to be of help to take the petitions to every corner of this country to be signed by as many people as possible. I am going to be with you out there. So, Friends, here is our latest task at hand, and we had better be off and run with it. Go forth and do what is necessary. Be mindful of the sage's advice: Be wise and gentle. Remember: freedom and security happen to be precious commodities. It holds true for both that the more you would wish to divide the more abundant the supply becomes. Let us divide them into as many portions as possible so that many more people may partake of each.

Go for it Hungary, go for it Hungarians!

The official version is based on the translation by Duna Nova Press International (www.dnp.hu)