THE YEAR OF EUROPEAN RENEWAL - The Prime Minister’s Thoughts on the Hungarian EU Presidency
THE YEAR OF EUROPEAN RENEWAL - The Prime Minister’s Thoughts on the Hungarian EU Presidency

Summary/Abstract: From a broader perspective it is readily apparent that Europe now stands at a fateful juncture. For over twenty years I have been taking part in various European counsels and conferences, and at these gatherings one thing has been consistently clear: the participants have always agreed that there is a well-worn, time-tested path down which it is both worthwhile and indeed necessary to continue plodding. But over the course of the past year and a half the mood at these gatherings has changed fundamentally. Today all of Europe is compelled to face the unpleasant fact that we have run out of well-worn paths. At most the familiar paths will lead us back to the familiar past and its mistakes, setbacks, and failures. They will not lead us to new successes. Sentiment across Europe is increasingly shaped by the realization that anyone who hopes to attain any success in the rapidly changing world of today will only reach his goals if he is willing to venture down untrodden paths. We are all well aware that this will involve clearing brush, felling rotten trees, even dragging stones from the path, and challenges will arise that will oblige us to break ground in regions seemingly impenetrable, but we are equally aware that we must now blaze new trails. Essentially we are now compelled to acknowledge that for Europe, and perhaps for the world, in the past few years the 20th century came to an end. It has ended, it will not return. Nothing will be as it was before, and nothing will function now as it functioned in the 20th century. We must face the fact that the past century has passed, and we hardly need lament this. Rather we should see its passing as an opportunity, the opportunity for complete renewal.

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