Hungary marks 2018 National Cohesion Day

We can only be rid of Trianon’s burden if we believe in Hungary’s future, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said at a commemoration marking National Cohesion Day in Budapest’s district 3, his constituency.

“We work on becoming an up-and-coming nation with all our strength,” Varga said.

On June 4, Hungarians mark the day of the signing of the Trianon Treaty on June 4, 1920, which stripped Hungary of two thirds of its territory and “thrust 3.3 million Hungarians into living as ethnic minorities”, Varga noted.

“In the 21st century, we have to strengthen the unity of the nation and not let defeatism or external pressure stop us from representing the interests of Hungarians,” Varga said. We simultaneously commemorate the signing of the treaty and celebrate the unity of the nation, he said.

The country continues on the road outlined in 2010, and follows policies truly serving the interests of Hungarians that are very different from the ones before the Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance entered power, he said. Hungarians outside the borders have a special standing in that policy, he said. After recent years’ economic success, the country is now facing new challenges that could possibly endanger its existence, he said. Hungary is resolutely fighting external pressure and Brussels’ migration policy, “because we know that uncurbed migration ruins nation states”, he said.

Speaking at a conference in Budapest, the state secretary for Hungarian communities abroad, Árpád János Potápi said that the trust in national cohesion was the “strongest engine of survival” for ethnic Hungarians beyond the borders for decades after they were cut off from Hungary.

“We Hungarians are building a united nation where everyone is eligible for citizenship and maternity benefits. A unity where education in the mother tongue is guaranteed to all and the survival of Hungarian schools in Transylvania or Transcarpathia is a common issue for all. A community whose members receive all the help to stay in the mother country,” Potapi said.

He added that to achieve this a stable mother country is needed that can secure the conditions needed for survival and Hungarian communities that have trust in the future. This is why 2018 is a year dedicated to Hungarian families at home and abroad, he said.

Parliament declared June 4 the Day of National Cohesion on May 31, 2010.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI