Hungarians know that freedom is not self-evident as they have often fought for it in the past; Hungarians are the people of freedom and “liberty and democracy should not be protected from us”, State Secretary for Cultural Diplomacy of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said at an international conference on Europe in Budapest this Thursday.

At the presentation held between the walls of the Andrássy University in Budapest, Monika Balatoni highlighted that Hungary has repeatedly defined the fundamental values for which the country stands for, so had St. Stephen voted in favour of Christianity and the service of Hungarians regarding freedom re-wrote the history of 20th century two times. The State Secretary also mentioned in this spirit that Hungary’s candidate for the post of EU Commissioner is Tibor Navracsics, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, whose European commitment – as she put it – is widely known.

Monika Balatoni said that the university serving as the site of the conference bears the name of a man who did so much for Hungarians and Europe. As she pointed out, Gyula Andrássy was fully committed in supporting the constitutional state and parliamentarianism, also was a full-blooded democrat. She added that Andrássy’s person “combines what we stand for”: coherence between national identity and Europeanism, which is that people may have a dedicated national identity and a European identity at the same time.

The State Secretary pointed out that 2014 is a special year, as Hungary is celebrating many eminent anniversaries, such as the tenth anniversary of the accession to the EU and the twenty-fifth jubilee of the democratic transition of ‘89. Both events have filled Hungarians with awaiting and admiration back at the time, because they longed for freedom and craved for Western Europe, with citizens having countries with historically more fortunate endowments and liberty were natural for them. As she pointed out, therefore they are less understanding on what a treasure freedom is.

Monika Balatoni held that nowadays many people are dissatisfied with the EU; although a lot of opportunities and economic stability came with the membership, but “sometimes we do not understand, why Western European nations do not understand us”. As she put it, there is a need for tolerance in Europe in order to see European people live in peace next to each other, discovering and recognizing the value of diversity.

According to the State Secretary, it often seems as if Europe only would be inclusive and diverse in words and less so in deeds, pretending that there is only one kind of diversity, into which Central Europeans hardly fit. Hopefully however, with Tibor Navracsics, Hungary can be a moderator of an understanding process which would result in having a better Europe, stressed Monika Balatoni.

(MTI, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)