14th May 2019
Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Atlantic Council (MAT) held its annual General Assembly (GA) at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The members of MAT, who participated in the GA, cast their votes and Prof. Dr. Szilveszter E. Vízi was re-elected as the acting president of MAT by consentaneous. Furthermore, the GA elected the 8 vice presidents of MAT, including Félix Á. Debrenti, who is the current acting president of the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association of Hungary.
Prof. Dr. Vízi marked successful the previous periods, and promised to maintain this outstanding performance in the future.
The MAT keeps its election of officers every 3rd year. Members can elect the president, the vice presidents, the president of the supervisory board and the members of the supervisory board. Besides these elections, the members vote about the annual programs of MAT, financial management of MAT, the further plans of the organisation, and the expected expenses of MAT. Prof. Dr. Szilveszter E. Vízi kept his keynote speech about the previous year. He emphasised the outstanding period of the organisation and the fact that it has been becoming more respectful through the years.
The MAT has started to support the events of NATO’s 70th anniversary, respectively the 20th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to NATO. The initiation of MAT, an international conference was held in the Upper house of the Hungarian parliament in March. The ministry of defence organised a traveling exhibition as a memoir of the anniversary years in cooperation with the MAT.
Prof. Dr. Szilveszter E. Vízi thanked the work of the presidency and the members. As a result of these activities, the MAT is already able to make connection between the Hungarian citizens and the Hungarian government in order to spread the transatlantic values. Prof. Dr. Szilveszter E. Vízi also highlighted the cooperation of MAT with several other organisations for making conferences and other events.
He also mentioned that the activity of the organisation is in line with the Hungarian citizens’ will, what they had expressed two decades ago, when they had voted in favour of the accession to NATO. ‘Time had confirmed that we had decided well, when we joined NATO two decades ago.’ – he stated.
Moreover, he added, “The transatlantic values are widely popular in the Hungarian society, and have always been supported by the majority of the Hungarian governments and members of the parliament”. He also outlined that MAT is a distinctive civil organisation that represents the diversity of Hungarian society. “We form the bridge between the government and the society and represent the Hungarian citizens. If it is necessary, we raise our voice in favour of the NATO and the transatlantic values.”
The GA listened to Prof Dr. Szilveszter E. Vízi’s speech, then cast their votes and granted the report of Dr.Vogel Dávid (the vice president of the Supervisory Board), the report of the MAT presidency about the professional and financial activities of the year of 2018, program and financial plan of the year of 2019. Members elected the 8 vice presidents, György Csóti, Félix Á. Debrenti, Anna Felkai, Lajos Fodor, dr. András Levente Gál, dr. Ilona Hardy, László Kovács, dr. István Szent-Iványi. Additionally, dr. Árpád Kovács was re-elected as the president of the Supervisory Board.
Translated by Norbert Szépvölgyi
