Hlina: Every Normal European Country Has Christian Democrats, That's Us

Bratislava, December 28 (TASR) – The non-parliamentary Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) belongs in Parliament, KDH chair Alojz Hlina has stated for TASR in an interview.

“We’re Christian Democrats, and every normal country in Europe has its Christian Democrats. I still want to believe that we’re also a Western European civilisation and that we want and need to have Christian Democrats. And we are Christian Democrats,” said Hlina.

Hlina conceded that KDH was weakened recently and that “various misguided false prophets” attempted to squeeze into its orbit. However, KDH has undergone changes as of late designed to strengthen the party.

“KDH really lived through a tough year, a watershed year. It didn’t manage to get into Parliament, which is a situation that KDH has never known before, and it shook the foundations of our movement,” said Hlina. “We found ourselves in the death spiral, people gave up – some even made the sign of the cross above our heads and we almost nosedived into the ground. But all that has been reversed. KDH has a new leadership now, which has already done a lot of work. For six months we made a superhuman effort partly aimed at the membership base, but it bore fruit.”

According to Hlina, the fact that there were disputes among the old guard and the new generation in the party was exaggerated by some observers. “Some were arguing, indeed, but let’s speak now about peace. At the Poprad Congress we passed items with more than a 90-percent majority. We can say that the certain level of tension that used to be in place has ended,” he stated.