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Good day, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for having me here. I did not want to come during the campaign, as it would have seemed as if we were interfering in the decision of the Georgian people. We waited for the election results, and after that I was able to come here to you in Tbilisi. Thank you very much for the invitation.
Our two peoples have a positive image of each other. We have no idea why this is, but perhaps it is due to history: you are a freedom-fighting people and we are a freedom-fighting people; we are surrounded by great powers and you are surrounded by great powers. We have always had to fight for sovereignty and freedom: it is probably this historical fact that has created the positive prejudice with which our two peoples regard each other today. This is why it is always good and a pleasure to be here with you. I congratulate the Prime Minister on his election victory. I look at the debate that has erupted around the election, I have read the assessment by international organisations, and I see that no one dares to question that this election was a free and democratic election. For all the critical comments, no one dares to go that far. And they are right not to do so, because we Hungarians also sent observers, we were here, and we saw what happened with our own eyes. Before I came here I studied the reports of the Hungarian observers, which were clearly positive and reported a free and democratic election. I congratulate the Prime Minister on this.
Hungary is one of Ukraine’s neighbouring countries. If there is any country in Europe today that knows what war is like, it is Hungary, because war is being waged in a neighbouring country. So we know what war is like, because it is taking place in one of our neighbouring countries. And we know how important peace is. Hungary is a pro-peace country in Europe, and we appreciate your efforts, that you are also on the side of peace. No one wants to destroy their own country and take it into a senseless war, so we understand the decision of the Georgian people, who have voted for peace. The situation is the same in our country.
I would also like to make it clear that here the Georgian people have made a pro-European decision. What I see is that both the opposition and the governing party are committed to EU integration. In fact you are perhaps the only country in the world with a constitution stipulating that all governments should strive for membership of the European Union. In such circumstances, questioning the Georgian government’s commitment to Europe is very amusing. And I congratulate you for pursuing a pro-European policy while not allowing your country to become a second Ukraine. We appreciate the Prime Minister’s commitment – which I have now witnessed personally – to make Georgia the best prepared candidate country to join the European Union by the end of the decade. We will give all our support to this end. We have already sent Hungarian experts to Tbilisi, and we are happy to welcome experts from your country for a training programme in Hungary.
We have agreed to develop our cooperation in strategic areas. We have recently agreed on investment protection, and are pleased that our Hungarian airline is playing an important role in your economy. We also look forward to participating in your economy in the fields of infrastructure development, tourism and water management. For us it is a great honour to work with Georgia on the European Union’s biggest project. We have a massive joint European plan to bring the green electricity produced in the Caucasus to Europe – to the territory of the European Union. This is a huge European project. I thank the Prime Minister for the fact that his government is very active in implementing this. Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary are working together on this. We have set up a joint venture between the four countries, which is a crucial step, and so I hope that later we will be able to report to you on one of the European Union’s most successful projects.
And finally I would like to mention that every year Hungary gives Hungarian state scholarships to eighty Georgian university students. We are happy to see that enrolment for this is multiply oversubscribed, and that every year eighty young Georgians come to Hungary to study.
Now in conclusion, as a prime minister who has been through so much debate and struggle, I would like to say something about the debates that we can expect in the coming days, and how they must be dealt with in the right way. Although the result of the election is clear and the election itself was free and democratic, there will be debates in Europe about your election. Do not attach too much importance to them – these debates are normal. These are exactly the kinds of debate that we have in Brussels. We have the same debates when conservative parties in Europe win, because European politics has a handbook, a political manual, a book of rules that one should recognise: “If liberal parties win, there is democracy; if conservatives win, there is no democracy.” These debates happen all the time – whether the election is in Hungary or in any Member State already in the EU. If the liberals had won here in Georgia, everywhere in Western Europe today the news would be that your democracy is on top form. But as the conservatives won this same election, it can be expected that the international press will reproduce the debates that always follow elections in Hungary or in other countries. These should not be taken seriously, Dear Georgian Friends. I congratulate you on the election results.
I wish your government, your country and your people every success in the years ahead. You can count on Hungary and on our strategic partnership in the future.
