President Ader meets religious leaders of ethnic Hungarian communities

Budapest (MTI) – If Europe or Hungarians around the world give up their spiritual heritage they would lose not only their identity but an extremely important source of humanity, too, President Janos Ader said at a state dinner in honour of the religious leaders of Hungarian communities in neighbouring countries held at the presidential Sandor Palace on Thursday.

“People of faith have faced extremely difficult questions in recent months,” he said, drawing a distinction between refugees and economic migrants.

“We have seen the refugee fleeing from war; the individual forced to leave his homeland in pursuit of safety for loved ones, looking to the future with anxiety in a strange land. We see them and feel compassion,” he said.

“And we also see the hundreds of thousands of migrants drawn here by their desire for a better life, whose anxiety and poverty can turn to hatred, even against their hosts,” Ader added.

The president also referred to the tragic historical experiences of the Hungarian nation, citing its refugees and “the sudden appearance of a group of people from another culture”.

“We know what it is like when there are so many newcomers that the recipient community is forced to give up its identity and adapt to the immigrants.” Ader added that Europe was just facing that possibility.