At home: Orbán also sent a message to the weakest at the inauguration of the Bush statue

Hungarians have always thought of America as the homeland of freedom, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Tuesday at the unveiling of the statue of the late US President George HW Bush in Budapest’s Szabadság Square.

“Every Hungarian knows that the United States is the land of the free, that it received Lajos Kossuth with sincere love, and the building of the US Embassy in Budapest, Szabadság tér, served as a refuge for Cardinal József Mindszenty for 15 years”, said the prime minister. MTI according to the report.

“We will never forget,” he continued, “that the embassy door, thanks to the personal commitment of Mark Palmer, the American ambassador to Budapest from 1986 to 1990, was always open to regime-changing youth. He also noted in connection with Szabadság square that on October 6, 1849, Lajos Batthyány was executed in the courtyard of the barracks here. “The first prime minister of the Hungarians ended his life before the squad of execution of the occupiers. This is a clear message for all his successors,” added Orbán.

He also recalled “for the sake of the weakest”: on one side of the square is a monument to the German occupation and on the other a monument to the Soviet occupation. This is also a clear message: if you are Hungarian, you can only choose between two options, or you are in favor of the occupiers or freedom, the ministers said. And today, “we pay tribute to our friend George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States, with a statue,” he said. Then, referring to the fact that for some years there has been a statue of Ronald Reagan, the fortieth president of the United States, in Freedom Square, he said: “Here are two men from the United States who have jointly launched a fight against communism. world”.

The prime minister recalled George HW Bush’s visit to Budapest in 1989, stating that when the president arrived at Kossuth Square, he had been asked exactly to “save us from Yalta”, and he supported him because the peoples of Central Europe and his dream independence was also his dream. Bush “understood that regardless of what his colleagues ignored him, we Hungarians don’t want to make a better deal with the Soviet Union, we want to break with it. We don’t want communism to be more comfortable with American money, we want decide. We don’t want to get close. ” we want to be part of the free world, but Viktor Orbán remembered his demands at the time. President Bush was “a great blessing,” said former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, “we speak from the heart, many of us felt the same in Europe at that time, we thought that the United States that he led would not disappoint us.”

He also spoke that without Bush, Chancellor Kohl would not have been able to unite Germany, but they had to fight against the leaders of many European countries who saw the existing order as the basis of their own security, influence, prosperity. The brave exploits of Bush and Kohl have been proven by history, and in the course of a few years everything that was artificial and non-traditional fell apart. And everything that had strong and deep roots has come to life, he said. The head of government finally recalled that during his visit to Budapest, a girl asked President Bush what three things he would like for Hungarian children. He replied, freedom, happiness and long life.

So be it! God protect America and Hungary! “

Viktor Orbán closed his words.

In his speech, David B. Cornstein, US Ambassador to Budapest, also recalled that the statue of another former US President, Ronald Reagan, had been unveiled in Freedom Square nine years ago. And now another American liberty hero, George HW Bust, is being honored and perhaps his statue cannot be found more worthy than near President Reagan and the US embassy, ​​he said, and the work is a symbol of relations. bilateral relations between the United States and Hungary and optimism about the future. he called. He stressed that Hungarians never gave up the love of freedom, and the collapse of communism brought a new awakening to people who love freedom. George HW Bush’s visit to the Hungarian capital in 1989 symbolized this hope, the ambassador said.

The 41st President of the United States has dedicated his life to defending freedom around the world, helping people and improving their lives. It also helped the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe to free themselves from communist repression, stressed David B. Cornstein, whose service as ambassador in Budapest will end in a few days. In this regard, he called it a great honor to deepen relations between the United States and Hungary and expressed his conviction that common goals and values ​​continue to unite the two peoples. “Let’s make a renewed commitment today to uphold the love of freedom today and every day!” He called at the end of his speech.

At the ceremony, a letter was read to George HW Bush’s son, George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, thanking him for erecting a statue in honor of his father. “I am proud that relations between our nations are flourishing and expanding,” he wrote. Guests at the event included the U.S. Ambassador to Warsaw, Georgette Mosbacher, representatives of the Bush family and foundation, Secretary of State Marie Royce of Washington, former U.S. Ambassador to Budapest April H. Foley, and George Pataki , former governor of New York.

Minister Gergely Gulyás and Ambassador David B. Cornstein announced in early September that the Hungarian government would erect a statue of George HW Bush, the 41st president of the United States, in Freedom Square on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the communist regime in Central and Eastern Europe.