Convicted former Macedonian PM Gruevski was in PM Orbán’s house yesterday?

Nikola Gruevski fled from his country on Tuesday and asked for political asylum in Hungary. Macedonian 1TV reported that he spent his first night in the Budapest Corinthia Hotel and he was in PM Orbán’s home yesterday. Government officials did not confirm these claims.

How did he cross the border?

“The PM went home on Tuesday and he met Róza and Flóra” (his daughters – JW) – commented icily 1TV’s report Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister’s press chief. Earlier yesterday minister of foreign affairs Peter Szijjarto said that he could neither confirm nor deny that Gruevski submitted a request for political asylum. It is quite telling that in order to evade controversial remarks regarding the issue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

forbade government officials to say anything about it 

nepszava.hu reported.

However, later the Prime Minister’s Office acknowledged that Gruevski is in Hungary and sought political asylum – 24.hu reported. Furthermore, they added that, for security reasons, they allowed him to submit his request at the Headquarters of the Immigration and Asylum Office. They emphasised that the Hungarian government does not want to interfere with Macedonian domestic politics. However, allowing him an exceptional process might mean something like that in the eye of the Macedonian authorities. If the Hungarian authorities had stuck to the general process Gruevski would have had to apply for asylum in the detention centre where he arrived after crossing the Hungarian border.

Corruption and wire-tapping

Nobody knows how their former prime minister fled from the country in Macedonia. The local issue of Deutsche Welle claims that Gruevski must have crossed the border illegally, because the authorities took his passport before – 24.hu says. However, according to Magyar Narancs, he requested to get it back and he

submitted PM Viktor Orban’s invitation to the Macedonian authorities.

Furthermore, Deutsche Welle also suggests that it was probably Belgrade that helped him to travel through Serbia and arrive at the Hungarian border, since he is in an excellent relationship with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. They also say that PM Orbán promised him political asylum last Spring, before the municipal elections. Not only him, but also Gergely Gulyás, current minister of the Prime Minister’s Office and Zsolt Németh, former foreign state secretary took part in Gruevski’s campaign. They all blamed Soros and praised Gruevski for protecting Europe, but this was still not enough for victory – nepszava.hu reported.