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The reaction of Hungary at the president Iohannis statement
‘Today, the president of Romania made an uncivilized statement open to incitement to hate. Mr.president Iohannis must be aware that the great majority of the Hungarians who live în Transylvania and the Seklers voted for him during the presidential elections. This must be clear for everybody. That is why, our request, our message and the appeal to the president of Romania is simple: more respect for the Hungarians’ the minister of foreign affairs of Hungary Peter Szijarto in a video message posted on its Facebook account.
‘We are interested to keep a good relationship with Romania as we are important economic partners as well as the interest of the Hungarians who live in Transylvania and the Seklers to have normal relations between the two states. Unfortunately, over the last days the representatives of the Romanian state, one after another made statements which impact negatively the relationships of good neighbourhood’ minister Szijarto said.
The reaction of the Hungarian official comes after president Iohannis had an unprecedented reaction to UDMR and PSD as a result of the passing in a tacit way in the Deputies’ chamber of a draft law for the autonomy of the Sekler county.
Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) has labelled as "provocative and inappropriate" recent statements by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who is quoted as having said, among other things, that Romania's President Klaus Iohannis should show "more respect for Hungarians."
"The Hungarian official has distorted in an absolutely unfortunate way the meaning of the statements of the President of Romania regarding the bill on the autonomy of the so-called 'Szeklerland' - a topic that is limited exclusively to a domestic debate in Romania on a legislative approach contrary to the Romanian Constitution on which the Hungarian side has no business commenting. Thus, MAE considers the statements of the Hungarian official that the President of Romania's speech is incitement to hatred to be provocative and inadequate and considers it necessary for the Hungarian side to revise its own attitudes and actions that betray disrespect to Romania and high-ranking Romanian officials," reads a press statement released by MAE.
About the comments of the Hungarian official, MAE "emphasises that Romania respects and exercises its constitutional responsibilities towards all its citizens, regardless of their ethnicity, and acts in support of the consolidation of an integrated society based on human, inter-cultural values and mutual respect."
According to MAE, by displaying responsibility towards the very important relationship between Romania and Hungary - strategic partners, EU member states and NATO allies - it has recently refrained from reacting to a series of provocative actions of the Hungarian side, in an attempt to avoid the deterioration, in a completely unjustified and artificial way, of the bilateral relationship.
MAE also calls for "restraint and discernment." "Given the current context marked by the harmful effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that affects all citizens of our states, the Romanian Foreign Ministry is calling for restraint and discernment and also for full involvement in building a good neighbourly relationship and genuine strategic partnership based on the bilateral legal framework and the common European commitments, for the common advantage of the Romanian and Hungarian citizens, regardless of their ethnicity."