"Former US President Bill Clinton said in a 30-minute lecture at a function held at the Central European Business Centre on Saturday evening that “a health insurance system should not operate solely on business grounds anywhere in the world,” and that in his opinion Hungary should choose a model under which all will be insured.On another matter Clinton declared that “the US should strive for co-operation rather than make unilateral decisions,” and called the issue of identity “one of the burning issues.” He added that “there is no great difference between ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia, the struggle put up by the Irish and the conflict in the Middle East, and communities have to decide what matters more, differences or common humanity.”
Speaking on his third visit to Hungary, Clinton asserted that the US was unable to live with the sympathy that surrounded Americans after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, “because it sent the wrong message to the world.” He remarked that “Washington had backed out of the Kyoto convention, which envisaged a reduction of the issue of greenhouse gases, and verdicts handed down by international tribunals do not apply to American soldiers, and these measures sent the message that the US wants to act independently, and only co-operates with the world whenever it is forced to, and this policy has led to antipathy toward Americans in the world.”
The gala dinner was attended by a number of business executives, as well as Economy Minister János Kóka, Minister without Portfolio Tibor Draskovics, and Democratic Forum chairwoman Ibolya Dávid. After his lecture Clinton spent Saturday evening with friends at the Tom George restaurant.
Shortly after his arrival Clinton held a brief unofficial meeting with Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány in Parliament. Instead of flying on to Hamburg on Saturday evening as originally planned, Clinton spent Sunday on a sightseeing tour of the Buda Castle District, and flew on to Hamburg only in the evening, to give his next lecture.
Clinton’s honorarium was estimated at Ft 90 million, although the amount was not made public, Népszava surmises. Clinton delivered his lecture for Ft 50 million, which will go towards his wife’s presidential campaign, Magyar Nemzet writes."
Source: Hungary Around the Clock.
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12.10.2007