‘It is up to Romania to participate in regional cooperation’, says Hungarian parliament delegation

Romania should decide whether or not it wants to be involved in central European cooperation, which is taking good shape, the head of the Hungarian parliament’s foreign affairs committee said in Cluj /Kolozsvár, in western Romania, on Saturday.

Hungary has been committed to building such cooperation for several years and wants to include Romania in it, too, Zsolt Németh told a roundtable with leaders of ethnic Hungarian parties.

If Romania wants to become part of such cooperation, it should not reject cooperating with Hungary and the Hungarians, he said, adding that Romania’s reluctance must be connected with the rights of its ethnic Hungarian community.

“The ice in Hungarian-Romanian ties has been broken and started to melt after the freeze in 2012,” he said.

Németh said that preparations for the new EU budgetary period, the EU’s upcoming Romanian presidency in the first half of 2019 and linking Hungary’s and Romania’s energy networks would offer great opportunities for building cooperation.

Németh was asked about recent remarks made by the Romanian prime minister concerning Hungarian autonomy efforts.

As we wrote before, Mihai TUDOSE, Romania’s Prime Minister threatened to hang those Hungarians from Transylvania, who hoist the Szekler flag, the unofficial regional symbol of three Romanian counties.

Mihai Tudose’s remarks were strongly rejected by the Hungarian foreign minister, who summoned the Romanian ambassador over the issue on Friday. It is beyond doubt that the remarks which involved “basically threatening a national community and its representatives with execution are completely unacceptable and incompatible with European values and the 21st century,” Péter Szijjártó told a press conference in Budapest.

Németh said that

Tudose “had the right to choose this form of political suicide, [.], adding that a politician in Europe would normally not really survive such statements”.

Németh welcomed the recently announced cooperation of Hungarian parties in Transylvania and added that Hungary’s parliamentary election set for April 8 had a stake for the region’s Hungarian community as well.

Addressing the roundtable, Bálint Porcsalmi, acting president of the RMDSZ party, said Romania and Hungary would sooner or later enter into cooperation because that is what their common economic interests dictate. Improving ties between the two countries is vital for the Hungarian community in Transylvania, too, he said.

Tibor T Toró, acting president of the EMNP party, welcomed the unity demonstrated by Hungarian parties with their joint declaration on autonomy. He said the Romanian prime minister’s remarks brought members of the Hungarian community closer.

Source: MTI