Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Speech at the Inauguration of the renovated Public Swimming Pool in Cegléd

People of Cegléd! Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen!

If I am not mistaken, it would seem to me that there are many here who perhaps wouldn't have come here today on account of just the swimming pool. And so the task we must solve now, while keeping within the bounds of good taste, is to simultaneously talk about what György Beck [Vice President of the National Water Polo Association and Co-Chairman of the National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers] also spoke about, which is what a fantastic thing has been constructed here in Cegléd, to talk about the country, to talk about the fact that there will be a general election in 19 days' time, and to talk about what we would like to and need to do in the upcoming period. And all this, Ladies and Gentlemen, while respecting the need to refrain from holding a party political campaign rally; we must talk about all of this while keeping within the bounds of good taste. And so please allow me to first of all thank you for inviting me. It is an honour to be here at the inauguration of the city's old-new swimming pool and to share in your joy. I was glad to come here today, because I am always received with friendship here, in addition to which supporting sport and improving the lives of families through sport is one of the favoured policies of the current Hungarian government and so it is good to celebrate together with others who are also happy that sports facilities are popping up all around the country like mushrooms. It is right that I also say a special thank you to the Mayor of Cegléd and my fellow Member of Parliament László Földi. This investment project could hardly have come about without his involvement. Political decision-makers naturally always recognise good goals eventually, but there is always a need for someone who keeps reminding them so that good causes do not drift into the future where they are lost, and in this regard your mayor is without doubt a forceful individual. Thank you, László, for having been so kind as to keep the issue on the agenda.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is important for people who live in a city to be able to say yes, because the Hungarian character, the Hungarian nature is such that we very easily say no. And since history has given us a good beating over the past hundred years or so, our homeland is still not a rich country. And in fact it may be called rather poor. And because of this, all sports development projects and sports facility construction projects are accompanied by doubts about whether there are perhaps more important things to do. But such doubts are not only raised with relation to building sports facilities, but also with regard to the renovation of the country's main squares, such as the recent renovation of Kossuth Square, and these are legitimate points. Is this really the most important thing that the Government, the local government or local businesses are willing to spend money on? Whatever the case, Ladies and Gentlemen, one thing is certain: neither a swimming pool, nor a city nor or a country can be built on no's. We need to know how to say yes. I would like to quote Mr. Dénes Kemény [current President of the Hungarian Water Polo Association and three-time Olympic gold medal winning former Head Coach of the Hungarian men's National Water Polo Team], with whom this is not the first time that we have inaugurated a swimming pool together. This is what he said the last time we were together at a similar occasion: "The threshold of our performance capabilities is much higher than we would otherwise think of ourselves." I too believe that there is more in this country than we often believe ourselves. And so what I would like to ask of you, the people of Cegléd, is that you be proud of the fact that you didn't let yourself get talked out this swimming pool project; let us be proud of the fact that we didn't let ourselves get talked out of development and construction projects, and let us be proud of the fact that we indeed dared to declare that the Hungarians deserve the reduction in public utility prices and they deserve the increase in the minimum wage, and we did not let ourselves get talked out of preserving the real value of pensions and of supporting families. It is right that we should try to provide people with work instead of giving them benefits, and the people of Hungary also deserve to have a swimming pool in every single district centre, in at least every district centre, where we can teach our children to live a healthier life within the framework of school physical education lessons. We made the decision and we have acted on it: there will be a public swimming pool in every single district centre, dear people of Cegléd! For the doubting Thomases with relation to such decisions, I would like to quote the old saying according to which "those who think they have no time for exercise will eventually have no choice but to find time for sickness". And accordingly my view is that those who do not spend time, energy and money on their health will eventually have to spend all these on their illnesses.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

And for precisely this reason we would do better to follow the old wisdom of the ancient Romans: sound body, sound mind. I must share a saddening fact with you: the European Union has 28 member states, and of those 28 member stats we are fourth from last with regard to the amount of exercise we do. Even more worrying, dear people of Cegléd, is the fact that only 38 percent of our children and young people perform regular exercise. These are the young people who represent the future of Hungary.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A lot depends on the intellectual and physical state in which our young people cross the threshold of adulthood. It is, after all, for them that we work and it is they for whom we do what we do. I still remember that when I was a child my biggest parents' problem was how to drag me home from the playground, the football pitch, the car park or wherever I happened to be playing with my friends, and what I see instead today, and I myself am struggling with this kind of thing and I am certainly not alone, is that we can hardly get our children to go out of the house and get some exercise instead of living their lives in and only in the virtual computer world.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If we want to change this state of affairs, and I sincerely believe that all parents would like to change it, then we must support community sports and family sports at both a competitive and mass level. One important element of this is that we must establish sports facilities where are children enjoy being and where they feel that there was some use in the time they spent there. I would like to remind the people of Cegléd that we have introduced everyday physical education in the country's schools. The result is that more than 600 thousand children are now doing at least an hour of exercise every single day.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

And in addition, sport is also good for a child's soul, and this is why we want to develop it into a strategic sector, because sport is after all an area of life in which young people can challenge themselves and achieve success. Just as many young people from Cegléd are already showing us.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Although we are in Cegléd, it is perhaps important to mention that two other similarly large-scale and in fact even larger development projects are also underway in the country. We are constructing a swimming complex in Budapest in preparation for the 2021 FINA World Aquatics Championships, in addition to which there will be a summer European Youth Olympic Festival in Győr in 2017, for which we are constructing similar facilities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you have already heard, this facility was realised at a cost of some 650 million forints. Over the course of three years, sport has received a total of 185 billion forints in funding and, as I have mentioned, we will be spending additional tens of billions of forints over the upcoming years within the framework of the district centre swimming pool development programme. I know there is also debate as to whether it is worth building a two thousand square mere Judo centre in Cegléd. Yes, it is. Say yes to this too, let's realise this project too! Especially in view of the fact that the city of Cegléd has been living under the weight of 5.4 billion forints of debt until very recently. 5 billion 400 million forints. The Government has removed this debt and has freed you from it. And if I take a look at what development tenders you have been awarded over the past few years then I can also tell you that 100 programmes have been realised at a cost of 3.5 billion forints. If I add the two together, the result is that the financial situation of the city of Cegléd has improved by almost 9 billion forints. My wish for every citizen of the city of Cegléd is that you never have to make a worse deal than you have struck with the Hungarian Government.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A few days after 15 March, it is difficult to leave Cegléd without mentioning Lajos Kossuth who, standing on a makeshift platform on Market Square in September of 1848, gave a famous speech after which more than two thousand people joined the army and fought in the battles of the War of Independence. Young people from Transdanubia such as myself first heard of Cegléd from the history books, with relation to Kossuth's famous speech. And so you have good reason to be proud of this historic event. And although it is not raining like in the Kossuth song, and the regiment has not been exhausted, but as we are drawing close to the elections I too cannot leave Cegléd without calling the people of Cegléd to join the fight, Ladies and Gentlemen! Because the elections require us to fight. What is at stake at the elections is no less than whether we will be capable of protecting what we have achieved so far and whether we will be capable of being one of the better performing countries in Europe, or are instead sucked back into the pre-2010 swamp of no's, defeatism and hopelessness. This is the question, dear Hungarians; this is the question, dear people of Cegléd! What is as stake at the elections, if I must use a single word to describe it, is unity. Everything that has come into being in this country during the past four years, every battle that we have fought and which has ended with our victory, was only possible for one single reason. Because in 2010 you voted for unity. This swimming pool would also not be standing here behind me, or at least it wouldn't be have been renewed, if you had not created a two-thirds parliamentary majority in 2010 and had not created a national unity that is otherwise capable of launching  and realising programmes of this kind. And there would be no reduction in public utility prices if you had not voted for unity in 2010. And there would have been no increase in the minimum wage, there would have been no family tax benefit; nothing that we have achieved in this country would exist without your support.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We will also have battles to fight in the upcoming period. Sometimes against the powerful forces of nature, as we did with the great Danube flood, because the challenges we face will not just disappear. We must fight against Brussels bureaucrats, we must fight against the monopolising forces of large international corporations and we must fight with certain forces from the financial sector. We must fight many more battles together. And believe me, a government or the courage of a few individuals is not enough to win such battles. It requires unity and strength; the strength that comes from unity. And for this reason I would ask that on 6 April you vote for the unity of Hungary!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you personally for the support that I have received over the past four years. We are men after all, and we are not used to being sentimental, but believe me, I had great need of that support during the past four years. Thank you to the people of Cegléd for always having provided me with encouragement, with drive and with motivation. I would like to ask you not to abandon me during the upcoming weeks. There is one thing that I can promise the people of Cegléd in return: you too can always count on me, and can always count on us.

Go, Hungary! Go, Hungarians!

(Prime Minister’s Office)