“23 October also alerts us to the fact that we can only preserve our values and national self-esteem if we do not give up the principle of solidarity”, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga emphasised at a commemoration organised by the Fidesz organisation of Budapest’s 3rd District at the Kiscell Castle.
The Minister, who is also Member of Parliament for the Óbuda district, highlighted: “The strength of the Hungarians has been preserved for centuries through the ideals of our revolutions and fights for freedom”.
In his speech, Mr. Varga also recalled the events that occurred in Óbuda in October and November of 1956, pointing out: “The two weeks of the Revolution began with a peaceful mass march from in front of the University of Technology, descending into fighting with the siege of the Radio building that evening, after which blood was spilt on the streets of Pest and later throughout the country”.
“Posterity rightly calls the revolution and the weeks of resistance that followed a fight for freedom”, he said. “We must always remember those historic days of sixty-three years ago; this is the foundation of our national solidarity, because those who celebrate together belong together”, the Minister said. “Our national holidays tell us who we are: an independent and freedom-loving people in the centre of Europe who are proud of their past”, Mr. Varga highlighted, adding that during the course of history it has always been peoples who stick together and are capable of action that have continued to exist.
“Hungary has not been able to truly recover from the loss of blood it suffered during and after the 1956 Revolution, despite the fact that the world of the great powers and the people who sympathised with us knew what was happening here, in the Hungary that had been allowed back to the Soviet Union”, the Minister pointed out, adding that in his opinion the heritage of the 1956 revolutionaries are a source of faith for the work and community-building that must be performed in the years to come.
(MTI)
