Hungary's prime minister Peter Magyar said Hungarians made the choice in 1956 to belong to a free, democratic Europe. (EPA Images pic)BUDAPEST: Hungarian prime minister Peter Magyar said Friday that the country was striving to be a reliable EU partner, as he sought to rebuild trust with allies after Viktor Orban's 16-year rule.
His speech, given on the national day commemorating the 70th anniversary of the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, which was brutally crushed by Moscow with tanks, was in stark contrast to Kremlin-friendly nationalist Orban, who frequently used such addresses to attack Brussels and compare the EU to the Soviet Union.
"Hungary is not a 'ferry country', it cannot drift endlessly between East and West. In 1956, the Hungarian people made a clear choice: we belong to a free, democratic Europe," Magyar told a crowd in front of the parliament waving a sea of national flags.
