Hungarians are the winners of history, says culture minister

Kossuth Lajos giving a speech

In today’s Europe, advocating for peace takes courage, Culture and Innovation Minister János Csák said at an event marking the anniversary of the 1848-49 revolution and freedom fight in Budapest on Wednesday.

In his speech in the garden of the National Museum, traditionally a site of commemorations and family events on the national holiday on 15 March, Csák said “remembering our heroic predecessors, we proclaim proudly that Hungarians have been the people of freedom for the past 1,100 years”.

Hungarians are the “survivors or even winners of history, not its victims”, because they have withstood all hardhips and continue to prosper, he said. In the shadow of war, the importance of peace cannot be overstated, he said. “If this war is unleashed, it could destroy everything, even Europe.”

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Socialists: A web of million dependencies in Hungary

The Hungarian national holiday, 15 March, is a celebration of social development, “real national issues” and European progress, the co-leader of the Socialist Party said on the anniversary of the 1848 revolution and freedom fight in Budapest’s 20th district on Wednesday.

Ágnes Kunhalmi slammed the Orbán government saying that “Prime Minister Viktor Orbán created a web of a million dependencies in Hungary, hobbling social progress, development and modernisation”. “Neither progress, nor true national representation, nor progressive European principles” are typical attributes of the government, she said.

Hungarians actively shaped European events in 1848, she said. Today’s Hungary should become a cooperative and sovereign country where freedom and prosperity are equally present, she said.