Polish PM in Budapest as Hungary marks national holiday
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
15.03.2019 12:45
Poland’s prime minister on Friday took part in commemorations in Budapest of the 171st anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, a day observed as a national holiday in that country.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki attends a rally in Budapest on Friday to mark the 171st anniversary of Hungary's 1848 revolution and war of independence against Habsburg rule. Photo: EPA/ZOLTAN MATHE
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki addressed a rally in front of the National Museum in the Hungarian capital, alongside his counterpart Viktor Orban.
Highlighting centuries of Polish-Hungarian friendship, Morawiecki said that the two nations "always fought for freedom together in the past" and that they "want to fight together for a better future."
He also said that the Poles and the Hungarians were "on the side of truth," solidarity and freedom, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
"Today, just as 171 years ago, we stand on the side of truth, on the side of solidarity, on the side of the common man, on the side of freedom, and are fighting for truth and for justice in the name of a better future for Hungary, for Poland, for Europe," he told the gathering in central Budapest, as quoted by the news agency.
Polish and Hungarian officials were later in the day expected to place flowers at a monument in Budapest honouring Gen. Józef Bem, a national hero of both Poland and Hungary.
Meanwhile, some 1,000 Poles have travelled to Budapest to take part in the celebrations as part of a trip organised by a network of grassroots groups linked to the conservative Gazeta Polska weekly, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Poland and Hungary are close allies in the European Union. They also work together as part of a regional cooperation platform known as the Visegrad Group.
Polish Radio was on Friday airing a wide range of reports from Budapest and programmes focusing on the culture and history of Hungary to coincide with that country’s national holiday.
Polish Radio CEO Andrzej Rogoyski has said that March 15 marks the anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, “a historical event that brought our nations closer to each other."
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR