Hungarian leaders from Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia met at the Adriatic

Hungarian parties beyond the border must represent the interests of the Hungarians who want to prosper in their homeland, János Árpád Potápi, state secretary for Hungarian communities beyond the border, said at a Carpathian Basin roundtable held on Saturday in Rijeka (Fiume).

Potápi said it was agreed at the roundtable that the chief achievement of national community policy of the past 13 years had been strengthening Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin. He said central Europe, including Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin, had confronted a tough situation in the wake of the epidemic, the Russian-Ukrainian war and European sanctions, “and responses to challenges must be found together”.

All these factors would have had a far worse effect had these communities not pulled together, he said. Also, census data, he added, indicated that Hungarian populations were dwindling in all regions beyond the border as well as in Hungary. “Without our work, the rates [of deterioration] would be far worse,” he said. Potápi noted that throughout the Carpathian Basin, “very important elections” were coming up, “and we must work together to make sure that Hungarian parties do well…”

Attending the roundtable at the headquarters of the Democratic Union of Hungarians of Croatia (HMDK) were Hunor Kelemen, leader of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), István Pásztor of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMSZ), László Brenzovics of the Cultural Alliance of Hungarians in Sub-Carpathia (KMKSZ), Hungarian Community Party, Róbert Jankovics of the HMDK and Orbán Dusan of the Hungarian Self-Governing Ethnic Community of Pomurje, as well as staff of the State Secretariat for Hungarian Communities Abroad who maintain contacts with these leaders on a daily basis.