Is Orbán right? Has the Croatian seashore or part of it ever belonged to Hungary?

Those who follow Hungarian politics know that Hungary does not support the European Committee’s idea to expand sanctions on Russian energy, including oil deliveries. Orbán and his government repeatedly argued that a decision of such kind would result in skyrocketing energy prices, insecurity and economic breakdown for Hungary since the country is 80-90 pc dependent on Russian supply. Orbán acknowledges that some EU members are in the position to receive oil supply via sea but he regularly emphasizes that Hungary is landlocked, so the country can only use those pipelines that start in Russia. However, last Friday, he went further and said that “Those who have a sea and ports are able to bring oil on tankers. If they hadn’t taken it away from us, we would also have a port.”

Croatians bristled at Orbán’s statement and summoned Hungary’s ambassador in Zagreb to explain the Prime Minister’s statement. State Secretary Tamás Menczer attempted to mitigate the issue by saying it was a misunderstanding. However, Menczer added

Orbán had referred to “historical facts”.

And there comes the problem. It seems that the Hungarian government believes history is on their side. However, Croatians disagree. Even the Croatian State Archives joined the discourse claiming that nobody could have taken away Hungary’s seashore because the country had never had one – telex.hu reported. They wrote yesterday that Mr Orbán got confused about historical records. 

Hungary was liberated from the Ottoman occupation by Austrian forces, but the country did not get back its independence. Instead, it became part of the Austrian Empire. Naturally, Hungarians did not accept that and led two fights for independence in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1848-49, Hungary almost won, but the Russians intervened and crushed the revolution. It became clear that Austria was too weak alone, so confrontation was replaced with an Austrian-Hungarian (Habsburg-Hungarian) compromise in 1867.

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Hungary became an equal part of the dual monarchy. Meanwhile, Croatia received a narrow autonomy from Hungary which acknowleded its “partner nation” status. However, the Croatian political elite did not accept that.

They wanted to unify all regions populated by South Slavs and, thus, create Yugoslavia.

There was only one city that was part of Croatia once but was not under the rule of Zagreb’s regional government between 1867 and 1918: Fiume. The city and its close neighbourhood became

a “corpus separatum, a “separated body”,

a special legal and political entity different from its environment which was under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary. Hungarian State Secretary Menczer calls that a “historical fact”, but the Croatians do not accept that.

The Croatian State Archives claims that between 1867 and 1918, Fiume (Rijeka) was not part of the Kingdom of Hungary since it was under the rule of the Rijeka Provisory because the Hungarians and Croatians could not agree on regulating the port city’s status. Hungarian king and Austrian emperor Franz Joseph accepted that in 1870 July. The Rijeka Provisory meant that the port city and its neighbourhood were under the governor’s rule, who was appointed by the king.

Telex.hu also argues that de jure, Fiume (Rijeka) was not part of the Kingdom of Hungary.

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DélHír, a Hungarian media outlet operating in Serbia, argues that Orbán was right, not the Croatians. They say that Fiume did not become part of Hungary in 1867 because it was part of the Holy Crown of Hungary from 1779 on. That is when

Queen Maria Theresa issued an official document attaching Fiume to Hungary.

Francis I even issued a law in 1807 declaring that Fiume was part of Hungary. Afterwards, Habsburg emperors and queens appointed Hungarian governors in Fiume. HERE are their names.

The article asserts that Fiume (Rijeka) looks like a proper port today because of the investments Hungary financed. Although vessel traffic grew significantly in the first half of the 19th century, large-scale developments started after 1868. In an 1871 law, the Hungarian government allocated a fortune to develop the port, create modern piers and build dams. Thanks to that, one of Europe’s most modern ports was created, and trade increased almost 15 times. In 1913, the port welcomed 31, 381 ships and 1.8 million passengers. By 1881, Fiume and Budapest were connected by a railway.

DélHír says that the heyday of Fiume was under Hungarian rule.

After WWI, Italy and Yugoslavia fought for the city, and, in 1924, it became part of Italy. However, that era was the regression of the port since it could not compete with the great Italian ports. After WWII, Yugoslavia received Fiume, and now it is on the territory of Croatia.

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Source: telex.hu, DNH, DélHír