Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, the head of the junior ruling KDNP party, said at the 30th Fidesz congress on Saturday that the protection of Christian civilisation and national sovereignty remains a primary task. Greeting attendees on behalf of all sister organisations, Semjén said: “We interpret ourselves as parts of Hungarian history and Hungary’s mission in this present day and age.”
The foundation of that is St Stephen, Hungary’s first king, “who chose Christian civilisation without bowing to the Byzantine Empire or the Holy Roman Empire,” he said. Today’s challenges are similar as the protection of Christian civilisation and national sovereignty remains a primary task, he said. Semjén noted that the Christian Democrat (KDNP) party is marking its 79th anniversary in the coming days. KDNP is the only historical party on the Hungarian political spectrum, and the only one founded on a worldview, he said. KDNP has also been “a partner of every one of Viktor Orbán’s governments in building the country”, he said. Christian parties must all face the dilemma of whether they should remain faithful to the teachings of historical churches, often at the risk of clashing with public tastes and losing the opportunity to govern and shape the country, he said. Giving in to “the mainstream” and abandoning authentic Christianity may retain votes, “but losing ourselves brings about losing spiritual ground and then votes, as we can see in Western Europe”. “Our response, the Fidesz-KDNP alliance, is one of the most successful ones in Hungarian history and the European Union,” Semjén said. It has brought about a “political miracle” of four two-thirds majorities in parliament, he said. Hunor Kelemen of Romania’s ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ hailed the Orbán government’s policies for Hungarians across the borders as a “Copernican twist” that had finally brought Hungary and Hungarians living across the borders on the same side. “After 100 years, it wasn’t Hungary on one side and Hungarian minorities across the borders on the other but Hungarians on either side of the border, entitled to citizenship, government support and shared responsibility,” he said. The “Carpathian Basin integration” is not only a national treasure but also an example “showing us the right way”, Kelemen said.