50th anniversary of Hungarian revolution

Last Monday the world commemorated the 50th anniversary of the suppression of the Hungarian revolution. This revolution was perhaps the first most significant uprising - and the bloodiest yet - against Communist and Soviet rule.

It instigated Western intellectuals to begin the process of a much deeper analysis of Communism and the Soviet Union. It led to the beginning of an important split in the European Communist movement that was to lead eventually to the movement's demise.

The brave Hungarian people stripped Communism of its mask and showed the world what it really was. They too have a right to a place among the heroes of the builders of a modern, united Europe.

The evocative images of Budapest 1956 came to the European Parliament's hemicycle chamber on Tuesday with tributes to those who took part in the uprising. President Josep Borrell recounted hearing of it as a boy and said it was a formative experience for him.

Hans-Gert Pöttering of the European People's Party said those who took part were "defending the values and dignity" of Europe and that having Hungarian MEPs showed how far Europe had come.

Martin Schulz of the Socialist group drew parallels between the 1956 Budapest uprising and the 1957 Rome Treaty founding the European Community. Both embodied the "spirit of freedom and co-operation between peoples", he said.

Former anti-Soviet dissident Bronislaw Geremek - now a Liberal MEP - described the "silence and impotence" of other European countries in 1956 as a "lesson for us now". Daniel Cohn-Bendit for the Greens warned that "democracy can never be guaranteed; only if we fight can we retain it".

Hungarian President László Sólyom addressed the Parliament last week while a resolution was passed on Thursday saluting the "self-sacrifice" of the heroes of '1956.