Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers a speech during the National Day commemorating the 1956 revolution in Budapest, Hungary, on Oct. 23, 2018. Europe's strength has always been provided by the nation states of the continent, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Attila Volgyi)
BUDAPEST, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Europe's strength has always been provided by the nation states of the continent, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said here on Wednesday, in his speech delivered during the National Day commemorating the 1956 revolution in Budapest, Hungary.
"The nations respected each other's rights, they defended their citizens' interests, they could effectively cooperate and they shared the blessings of economic growth, peace and safety," Orban said before thousands of Hungarians that gathered in the center of the Hungarian capital. "Europe is the home of nations, and not a melting pot," he added.
Orban claimed that the pro-immigration "bureaucrats" in the European Union wanted each country to adopt the multicultural path and allow the settlement of migrants.
He also accused the leaders of having omitted to use police and military force in order to defend the borders of the EU in the big migration wave of 2015. "They did not lack the power or the capacity but the will to save Europe from the masses of migrants," he said.
He also warned his audience about the stake of next year's European Parliament elections: "The European people must opt for the future next May, let's opt for the independence and for the cooperation of nation states instead of the ideology of globalism."
On the other side of the Hungarian capital, the leftist and liberal opposition also organized a meeting, gathering the whole spectrum of the fragmented parties.
The two main themes of the event were the collection of signatures of citizens demanding the integration of Hungary to the European Public Prosecutor's Office on one hand, and the creation of a large opposition movement to face Orban's Fidesz party as a unique challenger for next years's local elections on the other.
Some 600 commemorative events have been organized nationwide on the occasion of the National Day. The house of Parliament had been open to the public free of charge all day long.
