Serbian president thanks Hungary for Subotica synagogue renovation donation

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Monday thanked Prime Minister Viktor Orbán the Hungarian government’s donation to the costs of renovating Subotica’s (Szabadka) synagogue.

In a ceremony reopening the synagogue in the city which has a sizeable ethnic Hungarian minority, Vucic thanked Orbán, saying that without his personal support and Hungary’s financial contribution, “Serbia’s most magnificent building” would not have been refurbished.

“I am proud that after more than four decades, a new chapter can begin in the life of the synagogue,” he said.

Orbán said at the inauguration ceremony: “It is our moral duty to stand up for a Hungary and Europe in which Jews and Christians can live and practise their faiths without fear.” He said the inauguration sent the message that “this is the kind of world and the kind of Europe that we want to live in, that we represent and that we can protect.”

The Hungarian premier said that while Europeans today enjoy religious freedom, “if we allow Europe’s cultural subsoil to be changed, then others will write the future instead of us.”

He noted that the government had declared 2014 a Holocaust Memorial Year, and launched a programme to renovate synagogues. The government spent 10 billion forints (EUR 31,900) on the programme, he said.