Addressing a festive crowd in the Budapest Congress Center yesterday evening at the United States Embassy’s celebration of the 243rd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, Prime Minister Orbán said that while the relationship between our two countries has had its highs and lows, good and bad times over the past few years, “Hungarians now feel that these are good times.”
US Ambassador to Hungary David Cornstein expressed his gratitude for the achievements over the last year. “I think that the relationship that we have between the United States and Hungary is what it should be, it’s one of friendship, it’s one of an ally,” he said. He then used the same words – friend and partner – to invite Prime Minister Orbán to the podium.
“Our relations have always been determined by whether there was an overlap between the values promoted by the American administration and the values that have been protected by the Hungarians,” PM Orbán said, adding that nowadays the two countries “promote and protect the same values”.
“You Americans consider America first. For a good reason. And for the same good reason we consider Hungary first,” said the prime minister. Pointing to additional similarities between the two nations, the prime minister said that “we mutually respect each other’s patriotic position” and “both of us believe that guaranteeing the security of our citizens is a must: it is an obligation of the state.” And we act accordingly, he continued
“We both consider equality between men and women a value that must be well protected. The bases of our nations are families, which consist of a father and a mother and their children, on whom we can establish our future. And neither of us is willing to accept the hypocrisy of modern politics, which neglects the fact that Christianity is the most persecuted religion globally. We are determined to work together to help Christian communities in need wherever they live in the world.”
Identifying the region’s peace and stability as Hungary’s most important goal in Central Europe, PM Orbán said that “the best way to achieve it is our membership in NATO, the world’s most successful defense alliance”. (Just recently, Hungary and the US signed a long-awaited Defense Cooperation Agreement.) “[The United States] can count on us in the fight for our common values, whether it be in the meeting rooms or on the battlefields,” the prime minister said.
Praising the ministers of the Hungarian government, Ambassador Cornstein said that he wishes to “congratulate the administration for putting together a group of people that are so smart, so dedicated, so loyal and are able to work on projects that will not only benefit Hungary but - working together with the United States - will benefit our country as well, will benefit NATO, will benefit Europe, and in some cases will benefit the entire world.” This, he added, is something “that can only happen if you have a very strong and good leader.”
Photo credit: kormany.hu