ELDR Focus Year

Budapest, 26th October, 2006

Honourable Mr. President,

We were pleased by the fact that you celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1956 revolution in Budapest. We strongly believe that the common commemoration of such historical events can lead to the establishment of a common European polity. Meanwhile, we also believe that we must be united in condemning the shameful moments of our history, especially when these moments seem to reoccur in present times.

You spoke at a demonstration where dozens waved a red-silver striped flag (in Hungarian, the Árpád-sáv flag). These flags were used by the Arrow Cross Party and its members, the Hungarian national-socialists, Hitler’s Hungarian henchmen. In 1944, tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews were shot into the Danube by those wearing similar armbands and waving similar flags.

We, young liberals know that no respectable conservative politician in Europe speaks in front of flags of such nature. We are aware of several positive examples where European conservative parties stand clear on the refusal of radical ideologies. You, unintentionally, walked into a trap, which may easily result in the loss of your political credibility – despite all your convictions and previous political activities.

Honourable Mr. President,

In such delicate issues, having multiple sources of information is always useful. Of course, we do not suggest that you must be familiar with all the minute details of our history. (For this, we gladly offer you a toured visit to both the Terror House Museum and the Holocaust Museum in Budapest during your next stay.) However, we are afraid, that this time you were misled by malevolent advisors, who brought you into this uncomfortable situation. In the future, we are ready to share with you our perception of Hungarian history. We do not think that our interpretation is the only one acceptable – but we are convinced that there are certain issues where there is no room for differing views.

Do you find it acceptable to use flags and symbols like these during any event sponsored by a conservative party? Should your answer be a clear no to this question, we kindly ask you to convince the vice-president of EPP, Mr. Viktor Orbán as well, that the use of these flags and symbols is unacceptable in today’s Europe.

Yours sincerely,

Ms. Emese John

President
SZDSZ New Generation