The Transylvanian town of Tusnádfürdő hosted the 23rd free summer University and Student camp. In keeping with tradition, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also participated at the event and held a lecture at the Forum entitled "Central Europe is Renewing" on Saturday.
The programme was moderated by Zsolt Németh, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Contrary to previous summer universities, this year the Romanian Head of State, Traian Băsescu was unable to take part in the programme as a day prior to the referendum on his removal he was obliged not to make any public appearances.
In faith with tradition, the Prime Minister of Hungary responded to questions from the audience. He said, there was no homogeneous recipe for crisis management and this allowed a certain degree of intellectual liberty. With regard to the upcoming parliamentary elections in Romania, he said, he hoped the Transylvanian Hungarian population would represent unity. The Prime Minister also held consultations with university leaders on the situation and future of Hungarian higher education in Transylvania.
Zsolt Semjén, Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for Hungarian Communities Abroad emphasized the need for the Transylvanian Hungarian community to find a modus vivendi with Romanian political players, adding that the national interests of Central-European countries mostly coincide.
Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zsolt Németh also underlined the importance of maintaining cooperation between Central-European countries within the European Union. He cited former Minister of State of Hungary István Bibó when saying, in order to achieve development, the issues of liberty and community must be our common issue.
Deputy State Secretary for International Communications Ferenc Kumin also took part at the 5-day event. He said, international political families were more actively involved in the representation of interests of their member parties and thus greater ground was also provided in the Western media for Hungarian opposition parties to voice their opinions and sometimes used morally condemnable means to portray the Hungarian government in a negative light. He mentioned urban legends according to which Hungarians had written articles on internal politics under the names of well-known Western public figures.
The summer University of Tusványos was established at the same time as communism fell in the Soviet bloc. During its 23-year history, the event has managed to conserve its chief aims, namely to change views on the two countries’ social and political affairs in the spirit of openness and sincerity.
The 5-day event also offered a great number of youth programmes, including concerts, film screenings and craft workshops.
(Prime Minister's Office)
