Government official opens Baile Tusnad Summer University

Hungarians across the globe are now united, and today’s Hungarian parliament “essentially works as a national assembly”, the state secretary for Hungarian communities abroad said at the opening of the Bálványos Summer University in Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő), in central Romania.

The summer university dubbed “Tusványos”, a major cultural event for ethnic Hungarians, is being held between July 24 and 29.

Árpád János Potápi noted that the university is increasingly in the public eye, mostly thanks to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Orbán traditionally gives a speech there followed by a Q and A at the event. This year, his speech is scheduled for Saturday.

“We often see what the prime minister has said in Tusnádfürdő echoed in European and international politics,” Potápi said.

“We are working to re-establish the freedom of our country to serve not only the nation but Europe as a whole and Christian affairs,” he said, quoting Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II, leader of a Hungarian revolution against the Habsburgs in the 18th century.

Potápi lauded the summer university’s influence on relations with ethnic minorities, and the work of organisations registering ethnic Hungarian voters and collecting their ballots for the April 8 general election. The ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance has the support of over 96 percent of ethnic Hungarians, he said.

“This will be a hard number to top”, he said, adding that the alliance is working to justify the voters’ trust.

Fidesz lawmaker Zsolt Németh, a founder of the Tusványos summer university and head of the Hungarian parliament’s committee for foreign affairs, said ethnic Hungarian votes had contributed to the two-thirds majority of the Hungarian ruling parties.

One initial goal of the summer university is to “normalise Hungarian-Romanian dialogue”, Németh said. There is still room for improvement in this respect, he said. “The programme of the next years is to tell our Romanian and European friends that we are not against them but for them and our common goals. We have a responsibility not only for relations between the two countries but for the state and security of central Europe and, ultimately, for the success of the Transatlantic area,” Németh said.

Németh expressed hope that Romania would support central European development when it takes over the EU presidency in January 2019.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI