“The Hungarians have worked extremely hard and have prayed a lot for their homeland to once again be a successful and proud country, and we would not have managed to fight our battles successful without our friends, and without our Bavarian friends”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó emphasised in Friday in Munich at the official opening of the new Hungarian Consulate General building.
In his speech at the official opening, the Minister highlighted: In Bavaria the Hungarians can experience that “it is good to be among friends”.
“This is not easy to state on every European stage”, Mr. Szijjártó added.
“The friendship of the Bavarians has also helped Hungary to become part of the solution in Europe, and not part of the problem”, he said.
On the subject of economic relations, the highlighted the fact that the fundamental prerequisite for the success of the Hungaria economy is the success of the German economy, “and this statement remains true if we state that the fundamental prerequisite for the success of the Hungaria economy is the success of the Bavarian economy”.
“Hungary is now the hinterland, supplier and training centre of German industry, including Bavarian industry, which represents the backbone of the European economy”, he said.
This is also indicated by the fact that following Audi, which has been operating successfully in Hungary for 25 years, BMW has also decided “to believe its own eyes instead of the lies that are spread about our homeland”, and to “being a similar success story”. As the first step in this process, the Bavarian car manufacturer “has honoured and graced the Hungarians by choosing Hungary as the site for its new plant”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.
He added that both Hungary and Bavaria want a “strong and competitive Europe that is not an enemy of its own industry”, and “does not want to free itself of Europe’s Christian roots”, but professes that we must return to Christian values, Mr. Szijjártó added.
Bavaria’s State Minister for European Affairs, Digitization and Media Georg Eisenrich stressed that Bavaria is striving achieve cooperation based on respect and dialogue with its friends, and want “a Europe that is free from lecturing and tutelage”.
Respect for democracy, freedom, equality, human dignity and human rights, meaning respect for the values that form the foundations of Europe, “cannot be up for negotiation” in for Bavaria. There “can be no compromise’” with respect to these issues. However, Bavaria does not want an East-West split to develop within the EU, and also does not want a divide to come about within the community through the setting up of “good European and bad European” camps, the governing party Christian Social Union (CSU) politician said.
At the event, which was attended by several hundred invited guests including leading politicians, diplomats and prominent representatives of Bavarian cultural life, the State Minister underlined that in the spirit of friendship the new Hungarian Consulate General is not simply a foreign representation, but a forum for Bavarian-Hungarian dialogue.
Chief Consul Gábor Tordai-Lejkó told Hungarian public media that the new home of the Hungarian Consulate General, which serves the needs of the 100-120 thousand strong Hungarian community, is a 1200 square metre neo-classicist villa on the banks of the River Isar in the centre of the Bavarian capital. The villa is surrounded by an environmentally protected park, and in its close vicinity can be found six buildings that were designed by Hungarian architects.
The Chief Consul highlighted the fact that the previous building was used on the basis of a 30-year lease, but the new building has been successfully purchased, which is a good investment for the Hungarian state.
(MTI)
