23rd Congress of Fidesz

Created: 16th June, 2009 09:41 | Last updated: 16th June, 2009 10:07	print	send

On June 13th, Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union held its 23rd Congress in Budapest. A week after the party's 56 percent landslide victory at the European elections, chairman Viktor Orbán and all the four vice-chairmen were reelected to their respective positions. The list of speakers at the event included former Education Minister Zoltán Pokorni, leader of the parliamentary group of Fidesz Tibor Navracsics, recently elected mayor of Pécs Zsolt Páva, as well as former Finance Minister Mihály Varga and mayor Debrecen Lajos Kósa.

Tibor Navracsics: "a year from now, Hungary's prime minister will be called Viktor Orbán"

The leader of the parliamentary group of Fidesz said the debate of today was no longer about whether Fidesz would or would not win the next elections, but rather whether the centre-right would rely on an absolute majority, a two-third, or even a three-quarter majority. "A year from now, Hungary's prime minister will be Viktor Orbán", he added, but for that, Fidesz had to bring to an end the "Gyurcsány-Bajnai era" which, according to Navracsics, "led Hungary into a crisis with its incompetent and discredited politicians".

"Fidesz is the party of law and order and of social market economy, capable of leading the country out of this crisis", said the head of the parliamentary group, adding that one of the most important tasks of Fidesz was to get rid of corruption in Hungary. With respect to future duties of the centre-right, Navracsics said "politics must be opened up for women, people living with disabilities and for ethnic minorities. Fidesz knows the solution for them".

Orbán: "It's time"

"There is one political party that is capable of governing Hungary, and that party is Fidesz. And what follows, after a 40 percentage-point break, are two medium-sized ones competing for the second position and then a number of other small parties struggling to make it to the parliament. This is the new political geography of the country, and this is not by accident", said Viktor Orbán after being reelected to the chairmanship of Fidesz. What this meant, continued Orbán, was that Fidesz "would not have to enter any form of coalition. A 56 percent share of the votes at the next elections will mean a massive majority in parliament. We will only make a coalition with people who embrace liberty", he added.

Orbán did not read out the manifesto adopted by the congress in which the chairman states that Fidesz is and will continue to be, inter alia, a member of the European People's Party, a strategic partner of the Christian Democratic People's Party, a political force that rules out any coalition or cooperation with the post-communist socialist party and the extreme right, a party that protects the rights of all ethnic Hungarians living in the Carpathian basin and a party that is firmly attached to its Trans-Atlantic principles.

"Do not take our victory for granted. Please do not believe that the Socialists have given it up. I am convinced that they are frightened by what they saw in Pécs this May and last Sunday at the European elections. Not only are they frightened, they are horrified. The numbers that they see tell them that the change is inevitably coming and that it will be more profound than they have feared", said the chairman of Fidesz. Orbán said that what "the politicians of the Gyurcsány-Bajnai era" feared most was that they would be held responsible for their years in power. "They fear this precisely because they know what they've done and I'm sure they're working hard to erase all the signs that remain and to delete all the documents so as to make it more difficult to uncover the truth", he added.

"Now is the time for the ultimate showdown between those who believe in liberty and those who are in power now. This is the final confrontation before we can start working to rebuild a free Hungary."

Speaking of the future, Viktor Orbán repeated his pledge to make no compromise with the incumbent cabinet and any politicians of the "Gyurcsány-Bajnai era". "I am here to speak in the name of Hungary: we will leave no-one behind, not one single person, therefore we shall make no compromise with those who belong to the Gyurcsány-Bajnai era. Now is the time. This is the time to make our twenty year-old dreams come true, now is the time to break down the walls surrounding us. Now is the time to change Hungary", concluded the former prime minister.