“Romanian politicians have entangled themselves in a spiral of lies: they talk of joint solutions while making such cooperation absolutely impossible through their hostile behaviour and lies”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Wednesday in reaction to comments by the Romanian Prime Minister criticising Hungary.
“Victor Ponta (the Prime Minister of Romania) has launched a series of derogatory outbursts against Hungary during the past 36 hours, which outbursts are totally unworthy of a civilised European politician”, Mr. Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI in a telephone statement.
According to Minister Szijjártó, the frustration of Romanian politicians is perhaps due to the fact that in the current situation it will soon transpire whether or not they are prepared for membership of the Schengen Area and are capable of protecting their borders.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and trade informed the press that Hungarian Ambassador to Bucharest Botond Zákonyi wanted to present a list of objections to the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday with relation to Victor Ponta’s anti-Hungarian outbursts.
Although the Ambassador was received at the Ministry, they refused to accept delivery of Hungary’s list of objections, with which Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has contravened a “fundamental behavioural norm”, Mr. Szijjártó said. With relation to the affair, the Minister explained that within the list of complaints the Hungarian Government called on Romania’s leading politicians to stop lying about Hungary and refrain from unfairly attacking and discrediting the country.
On Wednesday, the Romanian Prime Minister said that unfortunately the approach of Hungary’s leaders has absolutely nothing to do with the European way of thinking concerning the refugee crisis. Ponta also repeated his earlier statement according to which the fence excludes Hungary from the community of the European Union. According to the Romanian head of government, it would be better to fence in certain leading Hungarian politicians to stop them “walking about” in Transylvania or Europe and making strange remarks.
Furthermore, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu once again declared that Hungary wishes to involve Romania in an artificial dispute to abate increasing public opinion concerning its isolation, for which Budapest is to blame.
Mr. Szijjártó also reacted to a statement by Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, according to which Zagreb will allow refugees to pass through Croatia and help them reach Western Europe. In the Minister of Foreign Trade’s opinion, Milanovic “has somewhat misunderstood the importance of protecting Europe’s external borders”, and this statement to some extent discredits Croatia’s intent to join the Schengen Area.
In reply to a question from a Bosnian minority MP at the opening session of Croatian Parliament, Zoran Milanovic said that in his opinion Hungary’s policy with respect to the migration crisis is not a good one. The politician said he was receiving calls from elderly people who remembered the Second World War and who are horrified about the barbed wire fence. Milanovic stressed that Croatia is willing to receive all migrants irrespective of race and religion, and to send them on if they wish. “They will be able to travel on via Croatia and we are prepared for this situation. Their final targets are Germany and Scandinavia, so I don’t understand why Hungary isn’t letting them through”, he added.