Communism and Europe: Yesterday and Today
November 6, 2004
Dr. Jozsef Szajer

Jozsef Szajer is currently Vice President of the Hungarian National Assembly, Vice president of the Hungarian political party Fidesz and head of the Foreign Affairs Cabinet of Fidesz. He is also a Member of the European Parliament and of the Political Bureau of the European People’s Party.

EICEE sponsored Dr. Szajer to speak at the conference “Human Dignity and the Failure of Communism”. Having grown up in Hungary, he was able to share personal experience of communism with the next generation of Central and Eastern Europeans.

His talk highlighted one of the differences between communism and democracy, which most profoundly affects the quality of society. Communism, the speaker argued, works against the elements which bind human beings together: against family, against community and against the nation.

"I have regained the feeling that it is possible to build a new country based on moral standards rather than degrading to a technocratic society that neglects everything that is related to philosophy, which is often regarded as something useless.”
Anar Ahmadov, Director of Institute of Politics, Khazar University
PhD cand. Political Science, Khazar University, Azerbaijan