13 December 2013, Budapest

Dear Madam Klára, Madam Dalma, Presidents of the Republic János Áder and Pál Schmitt, Respected Prime Ministers, All those who have gathered in commemoration, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would also like to extend a special greeting to György Szabad, without whom the political life's work of József Antall could not be interpreted by our generation. The fact that I am saluting him separately does not necessarily mean that he is here, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is most difficult to find the right tone. It is hard to decide whether we are gathered here today for a kind of commemorative mourning ceremony or instead at a celebration of the life's work of a successful statesman. On the twentieth anniversary of the death of József Antall, we can speak not only of the man and statesman who lives on in our memories, but also of the two-decade era that began with him taking office and ended with the adoption of the new Fundamental Law. Today, we are in possession of a historical perspective, in the mirror of which the most significant moments and lessons of the 1990 regime change can be clearly determined. The Hungarian right, lead by József Antall, faced an extremely difficult challenge in 1990. The voters entrusted him with the historical task of leading Hungary from the soft dictatorship into a democracy; from the CMEA into a market economy; from the Warsaw Pact into NATO. The country's previous leaders had by then swept the nation's treasury clean, leaving only promissory notes behind them. And a significant proportion of the Hungarian people imagined this transition to be as easy as driving to Austria to buy a refrigerator. And there were those who were almost shocked to realise that there are Hungarians living beyond our borders for whom we are personally responsible. Everything had to be rethought and re-established: from the restoration of our sovereignty to neighbourhood policy and social policy, culture, education, the system of local government, maintaining internal order and the defence of the country. Looking back, we may state that the institutions of Hungarian parliamentary democracy became consolidated thanks to the self-sacrificing work of József Antall. We inherited an economy that was structurally completely unviable. Communism had appropriated modern buildings and functioning factories and farms, to return only their ruins to their old and new owners by 1990.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It was József Antall who was entrusted with the task of waking this country, our homeland, from the stupor of the Kádár era. There were some, who after waking up would have liked to fall asleep once again. It was not enough to topple the debt-driven so-called welfare system at the negotiating table. The change in regime also had to occur in the public's way of thinking. Hungarian society reacted to everyday problems such as an increase in the price of petrol – we remember it well – with shock. Even such historical events are our leaving the Warsaw Pact and the CMEA or the initiation of Visegrád cooperation seemed to many to be distant issues, and therefore of little importance. The so-called "happiest barrack" of Kádár's Hungary was in reality a brainwashing camp with ten million inmates in which people were taught not to think big, while being persuaded that it is better not to fall out of line, because nobody ever got into trouble for being grey. It transpired that forty years of communism was not enough for people to forget what had happened earlier, but it was too much to enable them to continue where they left off, or rather where they had been forced to stop. After forty years, the Hungarians saw their role in the Horthy era, the Second World War and the 1956 Revolution through a strange, distorting lens. It was in this light that they viewed József Antall's famous statement according to which he wished, in spirit, to be the Prime Minister of fifteen million Hungarians. While our compatriots both at home and abroad rightfully thought that the much-awaited change in caring for the nation was finally at hand, the heavy fire that both the country and the Prime Minister personally received as a result also remains strong in our memories. His words were immediately distorted by outside elements with an interest in heightening tensions, and he was portrayed as a far right politician who sought revenge and wanted territorial revision.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

József Antall and the government he lead found themselves in a position in which it seemed that the right of the period had to lose in the short term so that it and the whole nation could win in the long term. Believe me, this is every politician's nightmare. This is what József Antall meant when he said that he was leading a kamikaze government. And despite this, of the states of the Central European region of the time, the government lead by József Antall and later Péter Boross was the only one capable of completing its four-year term. In my interpretation, for the first time since the Second World War a democracy was established, which had a great perspective, but which was destined for a very short life because of the interests of great powers, and József Antall assimilated this democracy and stood by it for decades just like the stem cell bears with it the capability of renewal and self-healing for the human body. It is thanks to his providence that this stem cell found its way back into Hungarian politics to facilitate the healing of the Hungarian people and the Hungarian nation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The legacy of József Antall remains an influence today. The domestic assessment of his political role is now as positive as his foreign contemporaries saw him. Those countries who – to use his words – sat in the anteroom of NATO and the European Community as if they were sitting in a dentist's waiting room, have by today become determinative members of the European Union. And one of the reasons this became possible is that over two decades ago a medical historian was capable of recognising the common values within Central Europe that link the peoples who live here.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If closing, if I listen to our socialist and liberal fellow politicians who honour him today but who mocked and tried inexorably to discredit him when he was alive, it would seem that only a dead conservative can be a good conservative. As you can see, there is still hope even for us.

Thank you for your kind attention.

(Prime Minister’s Office)