[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 25 (Monday, June 26, 2006)]
[Pages 1209-1210]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following Discussions With Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany of 
Hungary in Budapest

June 22, 2006

    Prime Minister Gyurcsany. First of all, I'd like to thank from the 
depth of my heart to the President of the United States for his visit 
today to Hungary, on the 50th anniversary of the '56 Revolution. We 
consider this visit to be a tribute to be a point to perseverance of the 
Hungarian people for freedom.
    We also see this as a confirmation of our joint effort that freedom 
and democracy must not only be preserved but also spread around the 
world in every region and every country, wherever necessary. Now this 
work that we started must not and cannot be completed, but it must be 
continued, because the world is the way how you shape it.
    The alliance of the United States and Hungary is based on values and 
interests at the same time. There are no major unsolved or painful 
issues, open issues in the relations of our two countries. There are 
challenges, and there are tasks to be solved, but that's just how it is.
    As a European country, I believe that we should finally end with 
preconception that Europe represents morality and the United States 
represents efficiency. And if we are democrats, then we believe that 
morale and power must go hand in hand. And we are democrats on both 
sides of the Atlantic. Now in terms of practical matters--of course we 
just cannot avoid talking about the visa issue whenever we meet. We are 
well aware of each other's standpoints. We cannot pose much surprises to 
each other. But because we know that this is a long road, this is a long 
path that we must go down, so we must look for other areas where we can 
be more successful.
    However, an important step on this road is that within a couple of 
months, finally, the building, the Tancsics was captured was kept--the 
building known as the Tancsics prison will return to Hungarian 
ownership. Let me tell you quite frankly that the President showed much 
more understanding for the importance and the meaning of this issue. And 
just within this circle I can say that he promised, and if he did that, 
it will happen.

    So, by and large, this is what we talked about.

    President Bush. Mr. Prime Minister, thank you. I'm honored to be 
here. As I recall, this trip started back when you invited me to come 
when you were visiting the Oval Office. I thank you for the invitation. 
I'm proud to be here. I'm impressed by the beauty of this city. I'm 
honored to be able to speak to the people of Hungary tonight when I talk 
about the unbelievable thirst for freedom that was exhibited in 1956. 
And that spirit of freedom still exists in the world today. And I thank 
you for your troops who are working through NATO to help Iraq and the 
PRT that we're working on for Afghanistan. And thank you for your 
commitment to help others be free.

    It is also my pleasure to congratulate you on being reelected. It's 
not easy to win a second opportunity to serve, but you have done so. And 
I appreciate the courage you're showing not only in foreign policy but 
in domestic policy. We have a very good relationship, which means the 
Prime Minister is comfortable in bringing up the visa issue. Look, I 
understand this is a difficult issue, and we have developed a roadmap to 
work through this issue, so the people of your good country will 
understand that you're doing your best and I'm doing my best to meet 
U.S. laws, and you're doing your best to represent the people of Hungary 
to get this issue solved.

    And so thank you for bringing up a lot of issues, and thank you for 
your leadership. And we are very proud of our friendship and alliance 
with Hungary. Thanks for the invitation.

    Prime Minister Gyurcsany. Thank you, Mr. President.

Note: The President spoke at approximately 11:40 a.m. in the Parliament 
Building. Prime Minister Gyurcsany spoke in Hungarian, and his remarks 
were translated by an interpreter.

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