State Secretary for International Communication and Relations Zoltán Kovács held talks on the experiences of the 1989 regime change at a podium discussion in Denmark on Wednesday, amongst others with former Danish Foreign Minister Mogens Lykketoft.

In a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI, Mr. Kovács said that during the conversation the Danish party had recalled that when the Iron Curtain collapsed “all of Western Europe was convinced that during the course of the transition to democracy, including with relation to economic policy, the European economies could be brought up to date according to a recipe or model that could be equally applied by everybody”.

According to the State Secretary, however, during the past 9 years Hungary’s experience is that instead of the “mistaken, out-of-date and unsuccessful neoliberal economic policy, the countries of Central Europe must practice an economic policy that is important to their own citizens”.

Mr. Kovács said that this is also generally true with relation to politics. “All democracies must be practiced within their own framework and in their own environment”, he declared, explaining that in his opinion, just as no single model for economic policy exists in Western Europe, so too must the countries of Central Europe, including Hungary, “each apply the form that is most efficient and is most functional for themselves”.

The State Secretary said that the hearing in Brussels on Monday to discuss the Article 7 proceedings against Hungary were also mentioned with relation to this, explaining that in his opinion the primary perspective during the establishment of a system of democratic institutions must be to conform to the requirements of the Hungarian people.

Mr. Kovács reported on the fact that he had also appeared on a Danish television show, during which the Hungarian Prime Minister was “depicted as one of the autocrats of the modern age”, with relation to which he drew attention to “what a methodological and political mistake it is to compare incomparable political systems and procedures that came into being to solve problems on different continents and within different cultures”.

The regime change of 30 years ago was also mentioned during the television interview, with relation to which Mr. Kovács declared: “The Hungarian Government is following the same principle it was following in 1989 and in 1990, when it dismantled the Iron Curtain following the collapse of communism: it is practicing a politics that is consistently anti-communist and that wants to free itself from the heritage of Hungary’s communist past”.

The State Secretary also met with Danish journalists within the framework of a background discussion, in addition to which he also held talks on government communications with the communications director of the Danish Prime Minister’s Office.

(MTI)