Opening the parliamentary debate on the Bill for a constitutional amendment which he had submitted, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that the quota referendum on 2 October established a new unity which transcends party political boundaries. This unity, he said, is so wide, diverse and strong because people can sense that Hungarian independence is once again in danger.
In his address the Prime Minister said that the new unity established for Hungary is neither of the right nor the left, but simply Hungarian; the goal of this new unity is to “keep the country that is Hungary a Hungarian country”.
He added that the new unity has emerged to express the elemental demand arising from the Hungarian spirit, which asserts that without our consent no one may decide on who we should live with and how.
Mr. Orbán said that the reason the seventh constitutional amendment is needed to express this new unity is that, in addition to the migrant question, the referendum was also about Hungary’s constitutional identity. “The issue of constitutional identity is both one of the most important questions – or perhaps the most important question – for the future, and the summation of our present debate with Brussels”, the Prime Minister said.
Mr. Orbán added that Hungarian independence is once more in danger, because international action has again been launched by those who believe that nations are no longer needed, that the world must be globally receptive and that borders must be eliminated; action has been launched by those who dream of the world – or at least Europe – melting into a vast mass which erases traditions, cultures, languages and rules.
The new unity has taken a stand for the Europe of nations
According to the Prime Minister, however, the new unity established for Hungary wants nations in Europe to remain – and this is what 98 per cent of those voting in the referendum have underlined.
He pointed out that Hungary insists on every nation having the right to decide on its own fate, and it wants Europe’s diversity to be preserved. In contrast to this, supporters of a United States of Europe and a new European empire want to eliminate nations. The Prime Minister said that “they would hand over the keys to Brussels, and replace responsible and democratic national decision-making with the directorate of a faceless bureaucracy”.
The constitutional amendment is centred on the fact that “we believe in the alliance of free European nations and states, and we do not believe in an empire directed from Brussels”, Mr. Orbán said.
We believe in an alliance of free European states
In the 20th century the concept of the nation blocked attempts at imperial tyranny, Mr. Orbán said, adding that Hungarian history clearly proves that in a deteriorating geopolitical environment a nation can at any time slide back to the level of a nationality. Quoting Lajos Kossuth, the Prime Minister recalled that “We Hungarians do not wish to be a national minority in Europe, but to remain a European nation”.
Mr. Orbán has asked parliamentary groups to temporarily put aside their party political considerations. On 2 October, 3.3 million left-wing, liberal, pro-Fidesz, Christian democratic and pro-Jobbik voters took a stand for Hungary; the Prime Minister therefore asked the parliamentary groups to follow suit and support the Bill for the constitutional amendment.
In his address, the Prime Minister indicated that he would not be present at the next session of the debate, as he is visiting Bavaria, where he will attend a commemoration of the 1956 Revolution. Following this statement, Minister of Justice László Trócsányi is representing the Government.
(MTI)
