PM Orbán: the West Abandoned Hungary Once Again

Unlike in the previous years, Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán did not deliver a speech in Budapest on the national day of October 23 this time but instead, spoke in the southwestern Hungarian town of Zalaegerszeg to a group of invitees on the occasion of opening a memorial center dedicated to Cardinal József Mindszenty.

October 23, 1956 was the day of the start of a national uprising in Hungary against the Stalinist style communist regime – a revolution that was crushed by invading Soviet troops the following month.

“We remember the Hungarians who, 66 years ago, showed what a true freedom-loving nation is like. The heroes of the revolution were very different, but their actions were driven by the same idea: They were all lovers of a free Hungary. They took every danger and risk because they believed they could succeed. Their hope and faith were not unfounded. In 1956, we had a real chance to win our independence,” the Prime Minister said.

He claimed that "had 'the West' not abandoned us once again, following 1945, Hungary would have stood a real chance of succeeding in 1956."

He added that “in 1956, we learned that only unity can help in difficult times,” and hinted that his government is ‘shot at’ by the recently formed shadow government of the Hungarian political opposition and “from the high ground in Brussels," referring to the European Union that withholds funding from Hungary citing deficiencies by the country’s government in the field of corruption and the rule of law.