The Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, will come to Romania on December 17 to participate in the signing of the contract for the “Azerbaijan-Romania-Hungary electricity grid via Georgia”, announced his spokesman, Bertalan Havasi, quoted by the newspaper Nepsava. It is Viktor Orban’s first visit to Romania since the racist speech of Băile Tușnad, harshly condemned in July by President Klaus Iohannis.
G4Media writes for the first time since Sunday about Orban’s visit to Bucharest, together with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili and the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.
Prime Minister Orbán criticized the “mixing” of European and non-European races in Băile Tușnad, in a speech that immediately drew the ire of opposition parties and European politicians. “We (non-Hungarians) are not mixed-race… and we don’t want to become mixed-race,” Orbán said. He added that countries where Europeans and non-Europeans mix are no longer “nations,” Orban said. He also harshly attacked the European Union.
In response, President Klaus Iohannis sharply criticized the statements made at the press conference at Palazzo Cotroceni: “It is wrong, it is a serious mistake and it is unacceptable for a high-ranking European dignitary to present himself on the public scene with a speech built on the theory of races, a theory that led to the most terrible catastrophe of the 20th century: the Second World War.It is a theory of the saddest possible memory and it cannot be accepted in any way that a European dignitary elaborates such a theory to motivate any internal or external political action. Equally regrettable is that a high-ranking European dignitary appears on the public stage with an anti-European tone speech. These things are valid, what I have told them, which is incorrect, wrong and unacceptable, no matter where this scene is. The fact that this scene was in Transylvania is a problem for us and the reactions of the public space have shown that it is a problem for us”.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban is almost isolated internationally due to both domestic attacks on the rule of law and his alliance with Vladimir Putin. Budapest is no longer visited by almost any European leader and Prime Minister Orban is very rarely invited to Western capitals.
Just two weeks ago, Viktor Orban sparked a new scandal with Hungary’s neighbors, including Romania, after wearing a scarf with a map of Greater Hungary, which also included Transylvania. Historical revisionism is part of the ideology of FIdesz, the party led by Viktor Orban.
On the other hand, Romania has maintained close relations with the power in Budapest, despite constant challenges. President Klaus Iohannis received President Katalin Novak in Cotroceni, while Foreign Ministers Bogdan Aurescu and Peter Szijjártó are constantly organizing meetings in Budapest and Bucharest.
