Budapest: Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) | Prime Minister’s intervention

March 16, 2010

MR. G. PAPANDREOU:  I am delighted that Attila Mesterchazi is the candidate in the upcoming elections in Hungary, as a new and the youngest candidate for prime minister. This shows, I think, the innovative spirit and the desire for a strong democratic movement, which is based on the vitality of the younger generation. I am very happy to see many young faces here in today’s meeting.

The two countries, as Attila has said, we have decided our two parties will be in close cooperation. And we hope that we will have the chance to host many of you in Greece, in visits. And also we can get a number of people from our party and also from the younger generation to come visit and live with you here in Hungary.

But I would like to first express my solidarity with both the efforts of your government to manage this difficult crisis. We are also managing a very difficult crisis in our country.

But also I’d like to express my solidarity with the Hungarian people. Obviously this is a difficult time, and it is a difficult time for the Greek people also, in the types of the measures that are necessary to be taken, for a number of reasons. And of course the international crisis has made things more difficult, has exacerbated our problems, and we have to deal with them at the national level.

We are dealing with them and our two governments are dealing with them in a very bold way, and we know that this does hurt, but we also know that there is light at the end of the tunnel, that we are going through a period of change, and that we are going to manage our economies to make them sustainable, to make them viable, to make them economies of growth, economies that could be also creating jobs, particularly for the younger generation, and that can also allow the younger generation to aspire to a better life.

Also economies which are just, because I think this is a principle which is very close to the hearts of all social democrats, of left parties, that the burden is distributed in a just way, but also the wealth that is created is distributed in a just way in our societies.

And this is a question of a basic principle we have, and in difficult times I think this is even more important, to make sure that there is a sense of equality, a sense of justice, a sense of the fact that everybody is contributing, to his or her capability, to solving the problems.

I believe also however that when we look at the whole international level of the crisis we see that we have less capabilities, because this crisis was also an international crisis, or very much an international crisis, and we have shown some of the weaknesses of some of our countries. But it was an international crisis and a crisis of the market.

And I think that if we look at the past 20 years we have two walls that have fallen. One was the Berlin wall and the other one was Wall Street.

And behind these walls, actually, were two mythologies. On the one hand, God was the state. On the other hand, God was the market.

And what we are saying is we want the markets and we want the state to serve our people. And we know, as social democrats, both what socialism can be and what democracy can be, that is, social cohesion and the possibility of freedom and representation of our people. And these are concepts that must serve the people.

Behind the mythology, either of the state as God or of the market as God, you have the huge concentration of power in the hands of the few. State bureaucracy on the one side; on the other hand, it was the financial sector, which had huge concentrations of power, and still does, in many areas and many parts of the world.

This shows the need that we have for democratic regulation, not only in our countries but around the world, beginning with Europe, which will put rules, which will put barriers, if you like, for speculation, which will also create a common sense of shared values and how we govern both our region, which is the European Union, but also the world, our planet.

And this is, I think, the area where we must cooperate, and as head of the Socialist International I see that there is more and more a need – and I think this is something which is the new challenge for the younger generation – for more global governance, regional and global governance.

Europe, on the one hand, has its institutions, and in many ways is an example of how the different countries with different languages, with different traditions, with different histories, national nation-states can work together and deal with much larger problems, whether they are climate change or whether they are economic and financial issues.

And I would say we need more of Europe. But we not only need more of Europe but we need to see how this type of cooperation will develop at the global level. We need more global governance, on regulating markets, on dealing with issues such as climate change, on creating the incentives and the framework for the type of growth which is viable, which will be green growth, which will be growth which is respecting our environment, but also using the new technologies, the new capabilities, such as the alternative forms of energy, so that we can move into a more viable economy.

These are three, I would say, areas where we can work together, that is the area of global democratic cooperation, the area of global financial cooperation and the area of global green growth.

I would also say that we, as social democrats, because we believe in the principles of justice and democracy and green growth, we have a vision which is one of a cohesion of our societies. We have a vision which is not built upon fear, but which is built upon hope, which is built upon a realistic path to change, a path which wants to invest in the real economy, in real people, in a viable economy and viable growth.

But because of the crisis around the world, many people are insecure; they do feel insecurity. And those politicians and those parties, rather than strengthening the people, they want to keep them insecure, they want them to be fearful. And they want to use this fear for political reasons.

They want to say you must be fearful, and I am here the strong leader who will solve all your problems. Rather than giving strength to our people, they are saying I give fear to you, in order that I get power. And we call these politicians populists; we call them extremists; we call them ultra right.

And they are those that want to exploit the emotions and the fears of our citizens, rather than help our citizens.

They are the ones that are trying to look for others to blame, rather than giving the society the capacity to change, to solve the problems.

It’s easy to say that somebody who is foreign, somebody who is other, they are the ones that are to blame, and if we kick them out, our problems will be solved.

But it’s not that easy. I would say that is catastrophic.

What we need, in fact, is to find more and more ways to use all the potential of everyone in our society, so that we can make our societies better.

And therefore what we, as the Socialist International, I think, are showing is that we have not only a realistic plan but also a peaceful and democratic plan to make changes in our world.

And I would say that if we do not move into a global democratic and socially just governance of our planet, then tensions will become stronger, divisions will become deeper, polarisation will be greater around the world, conflicts will be more pronounced, and the problems we will face will not be solved, whether it is climate change, whether it is immigration, whether it is financial instability.

Therefore what we represent is a strong force of the type of programme of democratic change, of social justice and of social cohesion, which I believe today is the realistic vision for Europe, for our world, but also for our countries.

And therefore I look forward to working with you, Attila, and all of you, and I wish you great success in your elections, your upcoming elections. Many thanks.