House speaker unveils former president’s statue in Hungary

Budapest, July 31 (MTI) – The speaker of parliament inaugurated a statue of Ferenc Mádl, Hungary’s president between 2000 and 2005, in the politician’s home town of Band in western Hungary on Sunday.

Addressing the ceremony, László Kövér said that as a lawyer, Mádl’s creed had been that a community can only survive if it holds onto its roots, preserves its national self-identity and avoids “falling victim” to the popular trends of a given time.

Mádl was someone who strongly believed in Europe’s unity even before Hungary’s regime change, Kövér said. The former president believed that there was only one place for Hungary and its people and that is Europe, Kövér added.

There will always be a need to follow the model of a politician such as Ferenc Mádl who professed such principle values as human dignity, freedom, solidarity, morals and care, the house speaker said.

[box type=”info”] Ferenc Mádl (1931-2011) Ferenc Mádl was a professor and politician. He served as the second President of the third Republic of Hungary. Prior to that he had been minister without portfolio between 1990 and 1993 then Minister of Education between 1993 and 1994 in the conservative cabinets of József Antall and Péter Boross. In 2000 he was elected President as the candidate of the governing conservative coalition. Mádl’s duty extended to 5 years. His term as President ended in 2005 because Mádl did not want to run again for the office. Ferenc Mádl died aged 80 on 29 May 2011. He was buried in a Catholic ritual with military honours at the Fiumei Street National Cemetery on 7 June 2011.[/box]

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI