Whoever belongs equally to the country and the nation does not share his attachment, but doubles it - declared President János Áder on Saturday in Szentgotthárd, at the jubilee ceremony organized on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the Association of Slovenes in Hungary, in which he participated together with the Slovenian head of state, Borut Pahor.
In his speech, the President of the Hungarian Republic put it this way: According to the Basic Law of Hungary, all nationalities living with us are "state-creating factors", but this by no means means that the majority society - exercising some kind of favor - merely recognizes and counts our national communities as part of the state.
It is about much more than that: the nationalities living with us are also us, they are our compatriots, our neighbors, our fellow-destinies, we share with them the common life and the common homeland, he declared. Borut Pahor, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, emphasized in his celebratory speech: history entrusted the people living here with the mission of preserving their identity and thereby contributing to diversity. It is the common task of Hungary and Slovenia to promote the survival and development of minorities in their respective territories, he emphasized.
Borut Pahor of Slovenia and János Áder of Hungary (right), as well as Andrea Kovács, president of the Association of Slovenes in Hungary, before the association's 30th anniversary celebration in Szentgotthárd on September 4, 2021. MTI/György Varga
In our opening photo: Slovenian President Borut Pahor (b) and President János Áder at the 30th anniversary celebration of the Association of Slovenes in Hungary at the Hotel Lipa in Szentgotthárd, where they met with representatives of the Hungarian minorities in Muravidék and the Slovene minorities in Rábavidék . Photo: MTI György Varga
