The defining idea in the modern history of the V4 group was freedom, Áder said at the closing press conference of a twoday summit of the presidents of the V4 countries which include Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.

In the communist era the V4 drew strength from each other’s struggles for freedom, the president said, noting the 1956 anti-Soviet uprisings in Poznan and Budapest, the 1968 revolt in Czechoslovakia, the Polish protests of 1970 and the period of martial law there beginning in 1981.

This kind of unity between the four countries was also present at the time of their accessions to NATO and the European Union, Áder added. The V4 continuously looked out for and learned from one another during their journey to their democratic transitions in 1989, Áder said.

It was at that point when every nation in the region could declare themselves free, he added. Noting the 60th anniversaries of the Hungarian and Polish revolts of 1956, Áder said both revolutions are still relevant today.

The Hungarian revolution is especially relevant from the point of view of Hungarians, because they define themselves as “a nation of freedom”, Áder said. But in 2016, the issue of security has emerged, he insisted, adding that the V4 will have to be at least as consistent about this as they were in their fights for freedom over the past 40 years.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Illyés Tibor