Plenary session of the Hungarian Permanent Conference

Budapest, December 1 (MTI) – Hungary used to be a stigmatised, marginalised country but has now become “part of a victorious team”, and its policy has become “the policy of winners”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Thursday.

Addressing a plenary session of the Hungarian Permanent Conference in Budapest, Orbán said that “it has become easier to take sides with Hungary throughout the world.”

Orbán expressed thanks to ethnic Hungarian leaders from neighbouring countries that “despite head wind” they had taken “a courageous and whole-hearted stand” for the policy of Hungary’s government.

The prime minister said the greatest achievement of his government in the past six years has been “unifying the nation”, completed in cooperation with ethnic Hungarian communities. “One hundred years after the Trianon dictate components of the Hungarian nation have found each other and cooperation has become a daily routine”. He noted that so far 810,000 ethnic Hungarians have taken the oath of Hungarian citizenship under the mother country’s dual citizenship law.

Orbán regretted that other countries in the region may not have met expectations of promoting ethnic minority rights following their European Union accession. Referring to Romania, he mentioned that country’s restricting the use of ethnic Hungarian symbols and a “campaign” against ethnic leaders “under the pretext of fighting corruption”. He said the upcoming Romanian elections will be of crucial importance, and urged ethnic Hungarians to participate and ensure a strong representation for their minority in the Bucharest parliament.