PARLIAMENTARY FORUM FOR DEMOCRACY NEWS
PAGE 5
EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER
elections , so everybody was happy except for them . In fact , they won the second election , and it never occurred to them to return to the previous system . Moreover , in my opinion today they represent more democratic values , than some other parties , who 23 years ago were fighting against them . Isn ‟ t it better now that we do not need to worry about them ? I bet we do not have to !
- Once I headed a parliamentary delegation to Cuba . The delegation was received by the minister of economy , and after finishing the talks on economic matters , the minister turned to me with lots of tension in his voice and asked : “ Mr . President , I must ask you what happened with my former comrades , who were sitting on the same chairs , on which you are sitting now ?” I answered “ Your question , Mr . Excellency was anything but embarrassing , and I am happy to report to you , that many of your former comrades are sitting here next to me , as they remained in politics , and as soon as at the second elections they returned to power , and I can assure you , Mr . Minister that they are much more satisfied now , that they can govern the country with a legitimate elections beyond them , compared with the past , when they were governing without anybody voting for them !” Then I added : “ But I must confess , that many of your former comrades decided to leave politics , and now they are extremely successful in exploiting the working class !” The minister said nothing , but on the same evening there was a reception offered by the Hungarian ambassador , where a Cuban member of the Politburo wanted to speak with me desperately . And he told me : “ Mr . Eörsi , we were reported what you told to the minister on Hungary ‟ s transition . Your experiences are utmost important to us , we would be happy to learn from your experiences .”
It was funny on the one hand , that Cuban communist leaders are keen to learn ruling democratically , and exploiting the working class . More importantly , it demonstrated that persons belonging to the old regime wish to participate in the new regime as well , while it is more than normal , that there are very serious public sentiments against this .
- The question we need to put is this : Who has the right to exclude former loyalists and are their any boundaries ? Where can the line be drawn ? I guess all Tunisian players , who would like to see former Ben Ali supporters ousted , raise the very same question .
My answer is simple : why don ‟ t we trust our citizens ? Should we not trust that the overwhelming majority of Hungarians , Tunisians , Lithuanians and Serbs want freedom and liberty , we ‟ ve got a serious problem . In such a case , however , why did we do this ? Ah , it is a wrong speculation , very obviously . You trust the Tunisians , and indeed there will be ( as you have