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ORBÁN: HUNGARIANS 'IN CULTURAL EXPANSION'

 

“Hungarians are in cultural expansion, regardless of the crisis” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the opening of the House of Hungarian Music in Budapest on Saturday, the Day of Hungarian Culture.
Orbán said Europe is going through “rough times” as waves of the pandemic and of migration come one after the other, and the continent’s political, military, economic and cultural weight wanes compared to the rest of the world. While the pandemic has closed or scaled down cultural institutions elsewhere, in Hungary, it is “in full bloom”, he added.
He noted that Hungary is tied in the European Union, for the highest share of government spending on culture. Orbán said Hungarians “can feel at home” in the building, the “excellent work” of the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto. Orbán said opposition politicians’ stand against the Liget Budapest project, which aims to rehabilitate the capital’s City Park, would not be forgotten. It isn’t by chance, he added, that “the mayor had other commitments today”. He said the left wing had “defended something that was run-down”, while “opposing something that is beautiful, world-class and inspiring”. He acknowledged the Liget project is “half-finished” and said voters could “finally bring an end to the debate in April”.