Slovak minister: Hungary will have territorial claims against Slovakia if Putin wins

The foreign minister of Slovakia, Rastislav Kácer, talked about possible Hungarian territorial claims against his country if the Russians win the war in Ukraine. He also said in an interview that the EU and NATO do not need another Viktor Orbán.

The foreign minister does not have evidence

Kácer told Hospodarské Noviny, a Slovak daily, that he did not have evidence of the Hungarian territorial claims. But Kácer believes even though the Hungarian government do not talk about such claims, Putin’s victory would mean a new start in that regard. Furthermore, the Russians also did not announce their attack against Ukraine.

The Slovak foreign minister did not add, but Hungary renounced all such claims in the Slovak-Hungarian Basic Treaty in 1996 and acknowledged the borders of Slovakia in return for the ethnic minority rights of the almost 500,000 Hungarians living in the country.

Kácer added that Hungary spreads Kremlin propaganda, and it is more than cynical that foreign minister Péter Szijjártó travels to Belarus to negotiate peace in Ukraine. “Neither the EU nor the NATO needs another Viktor Orbán”, he highlighted. But in the interview, it became apparent that he referred to his greatest opponent in Slovak domestic politics, Robert Fico, the country’s former Socialist prime minister.

• Read also: Slovak minister: Hungary would take Slovakian territories

Official: Moral recognition of diaspora community important to government

Árpád János Potápi, the state secretary in charge of policies for Hungarian communities abroad, spoke of the importance of the government’s moral recognition of Hungarian diasporas at a meeting with Hungarians living in Australia on Saturday.

Potápi met representatives of the local Hungarian community on Australia’s Gold Coast in the company of Zsolt Csenger-Zalán, Hungary’s ambassador to Australia, as part of the ongoing Australian Hungarian Cultural Convention there.

Contact with diaspora Hungarians has been elevated to the level it deserves to be at, Potápi told MTI by phone. The topic itself had been taboo prior to the democratic transition, and not much changed afterwards, either, until the current government declared that diaspora Hungarians formed an important part of the nation, he said. The Hungarian diaspora numbers around 2.5 million, about the same as the number of ethnic Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin, Potápi said.

Detailing the Hungarian government’s support for diaspora Hungarians in Australia, Potápi highlighted the ongoing renovation of the Hungarian House in Marsden, the regular organisation of the Fillmore scout camp since 2018, and the compilation of ethnography teaching material as part of the Kőrösi Csoma Sándor programme in Melbourne.

He hailed the government’s financial support for diaspora organisations, noting that contributions mainly went to the operations of weekend schools and scout camps, among other projects.

Since 2010, 1.15 million Hungarians living abroad have been granted citizenship, Potápi said, adding that the government supported ethnic Hungarian education institutions from creches all the way to higher education institutions. Also, the Hungarian Diaspora Council meets annually since 2011 and now comprises some 100 organisations, he said. The 17th Australian Hungarian Cultural Convention wraps up on Sunday.

Read alsoState secretary: Hungarian communities in the diaspora are fortresses of the nation

Source: MTI, mandiner.hu