Viktor Orban's address at the 15th European Peoples Party Congress

Dátum: 2002-10-17 18:52:00, eredeti URL: http://archiv.fidesz.hu/index.php?Cikk=5100
KCMDB-be feltöltve: 2024-05-04 17:49:41.709666, Feltöltő: fidesz_hu_scraper_v2

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends,

It is a privilege and pleasure to address our prestigious assembly today. I was asked to talk about the reunification of Europe. Every speaker was given three minutes today, so I shall immediately jump into the two thoughts I would like to share with you.

Both are, obviously about the reunification of Europe. Firstly, from a political and secondly, from an economic perspective.

On the fortnight of the reunification in October 2002, thirteen years after the fall of the Wall, one cannot avoid the question: how come that despite all the economic successes, despite all the political and institutional developments, nowadays - with the respected exception of Slovakia - practically the same socialist parties rule in Central Europe as did before 1990.

Please don't forget that in Central Europe over the past twelve years, it has been, that the central right may occasionally come to government and then go, but the cultural media and grass-root networks predominance continues to remain in the hands of the pre-1990 nomenclature.

The consequences of that, was that the left continues wanting to define the values of the right, the way they did in 1990, to define what is good and what is bad, in the socio-political life and the public discourse. They continue wanting to define with whom the central right can be friends, and which parties of the right are politically acceptable and which are unacceptable.

Our experience is that we cannot let them define our values, for it could only end in cutting up our forces into pieces like a salami. We shouldn't forget the old wisdom, that not every person who walks along with a big knife is a cook.

This is not unheard of, in the western part of the continent either, just think of what happened to our friends Silvio and Wolfgang. They could tell us long stories of the same in the EU. The main difference is that while there is a left liberal predominance in your countries, there are at least some fora of the right. In our countries, I can certainly tell this about Hungary, the predominance of the left is overwhelming.

They can allow themselves to simply - and I would say also, easily - distort, marginalize, ridicule and even exclude people, events, and political messages from the public discourse.

Now that the majority of the Central European countries will join the EU we shall have to consider the implication of this on the internal dynamics of the EU as well.

Dear Friends,

It is a wellknown fact, that we are at the threshold of the enlargement, the D day is unstoppable approaching.

So many know that the question now is not whether, but how.

The nations of Central Europe are aware, despite the simplifying messages of the left, that entry to the EU in itself does not result automatically in raising competitiveness and living standards. That is why our national governments have to run development policies.

It is not anymore to discuss whether we should enter the EU: this decision has been made and the "road up to the door" was successfully managed. Our job now is to ensure that the preconditions for our successful entry are met.

One of the key preconditions of success in the field of the economy is the strengthening the competitiveness of the new member countries. For us, peoples parties of Europe, the question is not simply to allow the enlargement of the EU, but to implement policies that improve the new members' competitiveness, otherwise the current enlargement, with ten countries as it has been decided, can create a true burden for the EU.

I cannot but conclude that the EPP has a historic responsibility for the future of Europe. I don't think that the aim of the EPP could be to conclude the reunification which brings a cultural and economic division to the continent, rather than a renewal.

A renewal, which means a rebirth from the leftist illness of the 1990's to the centre-right roots of the founders. This is the question the EPP faces today.

Old and new members of the centre-right are partners in this major game.

Thank you for your attention.

Estoril, 17 October 2002