Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-07-05-Speech-2-055-000"
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"en.20110705.5.2-055-000"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first and foremost, I would like to reiterate that the Hungarian Presidency expresses its thanks to everyone in the European Parliament, as well as to Mr Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, who supported our work all along, and I repeat, I would like to express my thanks especially to the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and their leader, because the Hungarian Presidency would not have been successful without their outstanding political support. Let us talk straight. The Hungarian Presidency was in the centre of attacks by the international left-wing right from the start. This could have paralysed the Hungarian Presidency, and could have made it impossible to achieve our objectives. It took a lot to endure the attacks of the international left-wing. We needed the help of the PPE Group and their leader, and I am grateful to the Members of the PPE Group because they stood by us and helped our work.
I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for your cooperation, I wish you every success, and ask you to support the Polish Presidency just as you supported us.
Ladies and gentlemen, we heard a few personal remarks as well, to which I feel obliged to respond not for personal reasons, but in the interest of Hungary. Please allow me to talk straight again. It is a cheap trick to say there are civil servants who do their job right and there are bad leaders. I encountered these arguments dozens of times during my 21-year career as an MP. These arguments are heard, these arguments are used by the opposition when the government is undeniably successful in achieving something, and the opposition cannot deny it either, but does not want to admit the success and attribute it to the leaders, therefore it rather delegates it to the corps of civil servants. This reasoning would even seem funny if it was not so tiresomely boring.
Regarding Mr Tabajdi’s remark about governments in Europe which, in his opinion, expressed their concerns and criticism about the Hungarian Constitution – what I am going to say is not addressed to Brussels, but rather to the national governments: no European prime minister or European government is in a position to tell us, Hungarians, what kind of constitution we can or cannot have. This is for our nation to decide, and we will decide about it in due course. Similarly, I have to say, Mr Tabajdi, that we do believe in peaceful, sober, and calm debate, but you know the Hungarian saying: give as good as you get.
Ladies and gentlemen, now I would also like to respond to Mr Cohn-Bendit’s remark driven by undue attention to my person. First of all, I would like to express my thanks for the flattering attention to my political activities including my speeches delivered in Budapest. I would like to reaffirm my opinion that Brussels is not Moscow. I would, however, like to make it clear that I will always protect Hungary against remarks, even coming from Brussels, which can be interpreted in Hungary as if you were to tell us what we can do and what we cannot do. You, Mr Cohn-Bendit, are in no position to tell us what to do, and I have to say that I can only raise the popularity of Europe in my country if I make it clear to Hungarians that you will never be the one to tell them what they can and cannot do.
It seems that a significant difference remains in our coexistence and political debates, and I would like to draw your attention to it. We are both, beyond doubt, rebellious personalities. You rebelled against a civil democracy, I rebelled against a dictatorship, and this difference, oddly, has survived between us, and I regret to see that you follow the European left-wing tradition that claims that if people do not vote for them, then there will be no democracy, because they were left out of the government. This reasoning is well-known in Hungary.
Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me now to express my thanks to Eurosceptics for their supporting remarks. They practically supported my work all along, for which I am grateful, but I need to clarify one thing: the Hungarian Government and I personally are not Eurosceptics ourselves. We are not sceptical in general. This is a question of personality. We are optimistic and confident people who would rather believe in things than be sceptical about them. This is why we believe in European integration and cooperation, and I belong to a generation whose grandparents explained to them clearly that if there was no European integration, no European cooperation, then sooner or later there would be war in Europe. We take this seriously, and for this reason will always persevere like a nation that suffered a lot during two world wars. We will always hold on to the spirit of European cooperation and integration. I would also like to make it clear that I have always appreciated your work here. I belong to a religious community whose fundamental slogan – for which it seceded from the Catholic Church – is that the church has to be reformed constantly, therefore your provocative and critical remarks are very useful for the EU, because the EU has to be reformed constantly as well, and provocative and critical remarks are in fact needed, so I thank you for the support you provided for our work.
Concerning the Constitution, firstly, I would like to make it clear that the European Union respects the constitutional and national identity of its Member States. This is enshrined in the Treaty on the European Union and the case law of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Therefore we insist that the Hungarian Constitution be drafted by Hungarians. At the same time, I would also like to make it clear that the Constitution is centred on life, family, nation and human dignity, which is a way of thinking that is welcomed with support, sympathy and delight by millions of Europeans. While some are critical toward the Hungarian Constitution, there are people in the European Union who consider life, family, nation and human dignity very important, and are happy that there is a new Constitution that places emphasis on these values, and we are proud to see that millions of Europeans agree with us, and consider the Hungarian Constitution a great achievement.
Ladies and gentlemen, finally I would like to read out three sentences from the beginning of the report of the Venice Commission that you have so frequently referred to, in order to clarify some misunderstandings between us. I quote from the report: ‘Hungary has adopted a new Constitution which aims to meet the general features of a modern Constitution within the framework of the Council of Europe. In particular, the Venice Commission welcomes the fact that this new Constitution establishes a constitutional order based on democracy, the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights as underlying principles. A particular effort has been made to follow closely the technique and the contents of the ECHR and to some extent the EU Charter.’ End of quote. I have to say therefore that the Hungarian Constitution as a whole is a modern, democratic European constitution in its nature and political character. Hungarians, using their rights as enshrined in the Treaty, will draft the necessary rules and details in the Hungarian Parliament. I thank those who wished us strength and good health for this work.
Finally, I would like to repeat that it was a great pleasure to cooperate with you in the past period. It was a great pleasure not just when you supported us. I have to admit to Mr Swoboda as well that even debating with you was a great pleasure, and I had the opportunity to meet many critical, but fundamentally amiable MEPs even from the left wing of Parliament, with whom we share European ideals."@en1
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