Romania

State-owned Hungarian energy company can conquer Romania’s market after large-scale acquisition

State-owned Hungarian energy company MVM allegedly shook hands with the German E.ON group to buy its Romanian subsidiary, E.ON Energie. The subsidiary is the second biggest on the market with a 41% market share, but the Romanian government is concerned about the transaction due to the Orbán cabinet’s strong Russian ties. Will the Talgo case happen again?

State-owned Hungarian energy company buying Romanian top energy company

According to sources sharing information about the planned acquisition with Hotnews.ro, the state-owned Hungarian energy company MVM would buy E.ON Energie. They will sign the documents only after the Romanian elections. The first round of the presidential elections will be on 24 November. The second round has been set to take place on 8 December. On 1 December, Romanian citizens will cast their ballots in the parliamentary elections. However, German E.ON and Hungarian MVM would only like to announce the transaction after the presidential and parliamentary elections.

State-owned Hungarian energy company MVM
Photo: FB/MVM

Sources talking to Hotnews about the large-scale acquisition said the Hungarian company wanted to obtain E.ON Energie’s provision business and planned to buy the distribution activities. Before, E.ON conducted talks with other companies like Romgaz and OMV Petrom about the transaction. Allegedly, they shook hands with the Hungarian energy company.

State-owned Hungarian energy company MVM
Photo: FB/MVM

Romanian press wrote that the Ciolacu cabinet is concerned about the developments. Sources said the prime minister’s office would create a committee to examine the arrangement. Romanian top officials are worried due to the Hungarian government’s Russian ties. Since MVM is state-owned, they suspect risks since they believe there is a chance that millions of Romanian customers may get under the influence of the Hungarian government having good ties with Putin’s Russia, portfolio.hu wrote in their summary.

Will the Talgo case happen again?

We wrote HERE that Hungary’s Ganz-MaVag consortium made a generous offer to acquire 100% of the shares of the Spanish train manufacturer Talgo. However, from the start, the Spanish government opposed the deal, citing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s pro-Russian policies. Eventually, Spain successfully prevented the transaction, leaving Hungary reliant on outdated, 20–30-year-old Western European train carriages.

Budapest International Book Festival Putin Orbán
Putin and Orbán in July in Moscow. Photo: FB/Orbán

E.ON Energia provides gas for 3.4 million customers in Romania. It is the second largest market player with a 41% market share after Engie. In addition, they have an approximately 5% market share in the electricity sector.

Loss-making company in Hungarian ownership

E.ON noted that they would like to sell their subsidiary because of the uncertainties of the Romanian market, posing significant risks and instabilities. The reason is the Romanian government’s frequently changing energy price caps and compensation rules. Romania privatised E.ON Energie in 2004, selling it to E.ON Ruhrgas for EUR 300 million. Currently, 68.18% of the shares are owned by E.ON Romania. The Energy Ministry of Romania had 31.82%.

Currently, the possible transaction concerns only the provision business. In 2022, E.ON Energie had a EUR 2.75 billion income but generated an almost EUR 72 million loss.

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English proficiency ranking: Hungary among top 20, Romania and Bulgaria perform better

English proficiency

According to the latest English Proficiency Index ranking, Hungary is among the 20 best countries regarding English proficiency as a second language. However, Hungary was outperformed by many nations in the region, notably Austria, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.

English Proficiency Index

Pénzcentrum writes that a recent publication has revealed a surprising ranking of global English language skills, placing Hungary among the top 20 countries for English proficiency as a second language. In this analysis by the EF English Proficiency Index, Hungary was outperformed by several nations, including Austria, Croatia, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. However, the country managed to get a higher ranking than Slovakia, Estonia, and Serbia.

The survey involved 2.2 million participants from 113 countries, notably excluding those with native English speakers such as the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The rankings were determined by results from the EF Standard English Test (EF SET), with the Netherlands claiming the top spot, followed by Singapore and Austria. Denmark and Norway closely followed, being just one or two points behind.

English proficiency
Photo: depositphotos.com

A surprising trend

Since 2015, the trend in English proficiency across various age groups has remained relatively stable, with the notable exception of 18-20-year-olds, whose average score has decreased from 537 to 448 points. Interestingly, from 2014 to 2020, women demonstrated stronger English language skills. However, recent data shows men have taken the lead. In 2023, men achieved an average score of 502 in English proficiency, while women an average of 484. Therefore, this highlights a slight shift in the dynamics of language skills between the sexes.

Hungary in the High Proficiency category

English proficiency across the globe has been classified into five categories: Very High, High, Moderate, Low, and Very Low, based on test results. To qualify as a Very High proficiency country, an average score of over 600 is required, with the Netherlands leading at an impressive 647, followed by Singapore with 631 and Austria at 616. Twelve countries, including Hungary’s neighbour, Croatia, achieved this top tier, reflecting their exceptional English language skills.

Hungary, with an average score of 588, is placed in the High proficiency category, ranking 17th out of 113 countries. This places Hungary among the top 18 nations in this group, while other European countries like Spain, Italy, and France fall into the Medium category. In contrast, the lowest performers included the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tajikistan, Yemen, and Libya, all of which scored below 400 points. Notably, Europe has seen an increase in average English proficiency by 50 points since 2011, indicating a positive trend in language skills across the continent.

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Featured image: depositphotos.com

Kalotaszeg folk embroidery pattern stolen by fast fashion brand Mango?

Kalotaszeg embroidery Mango

Mango, let’s give credit where it’s due!“, La Blouse Roumaine wrote in an Instagram post after it became obvious that the Spanish (Catalan) fast fashion brand used a complex folk embroidery pattern developed by the Hungarian community living in the Kalotaszeg region.

“The stunning embroidery featured on your jacket is rooted in the rich traditions of the Hungarian community from the ethnographic region of Ţara Călatei – Kalotaszeg, in Transylvania, Romania. While you’ve noted the jacket is “designed in Barcelona” and “Made in China,” the cultural origin of this intricate design deserves recognition”, La Blouse Roumaine wrote.

“Írásos” is a unique embroidery of Kalotaszeg. The wide stitch, like a cord, draws lively lines, forming decorative patterns such as tulips and roses, leaves and birds.

“Traditional art should be appreciated and credited, especially when it comes from living communities that have preserved these beautiful techniques for generations. We hope you can celebrate the heritage of Kalotaszeg /Țara Călatei by giving credit to this unique cultural treasure!”, they concluded.

Kalotaszeg embroidery
Kalotaszeg embroidery. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Kalotaszeg is a region in Romania’s western parts inhabited by a solid Hungarian majority. Its unique embroidery, folk dances, and folk music are part of the cultural heritage of the Hungarians.

We wrote more about the traditional Hungarian folk costumes in THIS article. Want to read about the folk dances around Kalotaszeg? Click HERE.

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Hungarian Foreign Minister discusses immigration and Schengen with Romanian counterpart in Bucharest

szijjártó bucharest schengen romania

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Bucharest on Tuesday that Hungary’s government is doing everything possible to ensure Romania joins the European Union’s passport-free Schengen area before the end of the Hungarian EU presidency.

Romania’s Schengen membership

According to a ministry statement, Romania’s Schengen membership is in Hungary’s national interest, Szijjártó said after talks with Romania’s interior minister, noting that it would end long tailbacks at the border and open up new public road links.

The minister said Romania’s joining the Schengen area would also make it easier for Hungarian communities on either side of the border to stay in contact.

Noting that Romania is one of Hungary’s top export markets, he said the country’s Schengen membership would also be “extremely beneficial” for businesses.

“So we have only to gain from Romania’s Schengen membership, which is why we are doing everything possible to ensure that Romania can join the area during Hungary’s European Union presidency,” he said.

“We hope that the Western European countries won’t be hypocritical, either, and all those who have been voicing their support for this will support it,” Szijjártó said. “And we sincerely hope that those who vetoed Romania’s accession to the Schengen area last time won’t get in the way of European consensus and a joint European position this time.”

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said Hungary and Romania have signed an agreement on cross-border law enforcement cooperation.

Immigration

He pointed out that both countries are located along routes that in the past had been favoured by illegal migrants and “organised crime linked to them”. He said this problem would still exist if Romania and Hungary had not cracked down as hard as they had on illegal migration, people smuggling and organised crime.

He said Hungary and Romania have agreed to bolster cooperation in this area to uphold security, adding that both countries were protecting themselves and the rest of Europe from illegal migrants.

“And we will, of course, protect ourselves from illegal migrants even if they impose a penalty on us for it from Brussels because, for us, the safety of the Hungarian people comes first,” Szijjártó said.

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World’s longest underwater electricity cable, 1,100 km long, brings green energy to Hungary

green coridor Bucharest

The so-called Green Energy Corridor, an initiative to bring green energy from the South Caucasus to Europe, is nearing a “point of no return”, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Bucharest on Tuesday.

At a meeting of the project aimed at enabling Hungary and Romania to import green electricity from Azerbaijan and Georgia, Szijjártó warned that mankind had entered “an age of dangers” in which energy security would be critical for national security.

According to a ministry statement, Szijjártó said the government had a duty to guarantee a secure and stable energy supply while considering environmental protection aspects.

He said one key component of this strategy was the expansion of nuclear capacities, noting that by building the two new reactors at the Paks nuclear plant, Hungary will increase the plant’s output to 4,400 MW from the current 2,000 MW.

The minister also said solar energy capacities must be developed, noting that the combined capacity of Hungary’s solar parks has increased eightfold to 6,700 MW over the last five years.

Szijjártó said the strategy also called for exploring possibilities for cooperation with reliable international partners and incorporating new delivery routes. He said the “best example” of this would be the Green Energy Corridor, which would enable the supply of new green energy sources from Georgia and Azerbaijan, making Hungary’s electricity consumption more sustainable.

He said, “Nothing can be greener” than Azeri wind power and Georgian hydropower, adding that the import of these energy sources to Hungary, Romania, and “hopefully Bulgaria” was “an excellent opportunity.”

Szijjártó noted that Romania is building a new high-voltage interconnector which is set to reach the Hungarian border by 2028-29, adding that Hungary, too, is working on the infrastructure developments needed for this energy link.

He hailed Tuesday’s meeting as a milestone in the project, saying it was “approaching the point of no return” as the electricity companies of the participating countries are setting up a joint venture and preparing to sign the modified version of their green energy partnership agreement so that it is fully compliant with European regulations.

“I do believe that establishing this joint venture and amending our cooperation agreement, adjusting it to the European regulations, will allow all four — and with Bulgaria, all five of us — to take big steps towards our energy sovereignty to ensure a stable, sustainable and affordable energy supply for our countries,”

Szijjártó said, adding that the plan is to have a feasibility study ready by next year.

The minister expressed hope that the European Union would contribute financially to the project. “We understand the fantastically beautiful words about diversification, we understand the inspiration, but it’s not an ideological or a political question,” Szijjártó said. This is a physical question, which means infrastructure development, and infrastructure development rarely happens without financial support.”

“Therefore, we do hope that the European Union will take its commitment to diversification seriously and will contribute financially to our project as well,” he said.

Szijjártó noted that the project’s 1,100km underwater electric power cable will be the world’s longest.

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State secretary: Hungary supports full Schengen membership of Romania, Bulgaria

Border control Slovenia Hungary Schengen

Hungary supports the accession of Romania and Bulgaria as fully-fledged members in the EU’s Schengen border regime, Barna Pál Zsigmond, state secretary at Hungary’s European affairs ministry, told a panel discussion in Tirgu Mures (Marosvásárhely) on Friday.

The two countries’ joining Schengen is a key national and European interest, Zsigmond said, adding that Romania and Bulgaria had met all preconditions. He said that “some EU member states’ playing fast and loose” with the two countries indicated the use of double standards within the community.

Zsigmond said Romania had completed its road infrastructure development near the Hungarian border and the country’s full integration could “open a new dimension” in railway infrastructure developments.

Romania’s fully-fledged Schengen membership would also be crucial for relations between Hungary and the Hungarian minority in Romania, he added.

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PHOTOS: 19th-century Hungarian castle will be reborn

Hungarian castle in Transylvania

Thanks to the financial support of the European Union, a 19th-century Hungarian castle will be reborn in Transylvania, Romania. Romania’s EU funds have not been frozen due to rule of law concerns, while Hungary has been struggling for years to get its EUR billions from Brussels, albeit without significant success.

The Teleki Castle of Komlód is in an awful state with a dangerous roof and tilted walls. But help is on its way. Thanks to EUR 4 billion from EU non-refundable funds, the castle will be renovated by 2028 and open to the public as an exciting cultural centre.

According to Magyar Építők, the castle of the Teleki Family in Transylvania’s Bistrița-Năsăud (Beszterce-Naszód) County was built in Baroque style. Emil Radu Moldovan, the head of the Council of Bistrița-Năsăud County, wrote on his official Facebook page that he had signed the relevant agreement with an EU agency. The renovation’s deadline is 2028.

The Hungarian castle almost collapsed

The Teleki Castle of Komlód is an outstanding example of the Transylvanian Baroque style. However, its state has deteriorated in the past few decades. Therefore, in 2020, the county’s general council started an emergency preservation to protect it from collapsing. A protective ceiling defends the unroofed building from rain and further devastation.

Hungarian castle in Transylvania
Source: FB/Emil Radu Moldovan

Its revamp has been included in the county’s development strategy for a while and has been among the general council’s priorities. However, they could only acquire EU money for the project this year.

After the restoration, they plan to create a cultural centre in the building and beautify the area around it, as well.

The historic Wesselényi family built the castle

The original castle was built by István Wesselényi and his wife, Polixénia Daniel, in 1756 in Baroque style. Sadly, István died only one year after they finished the building. The coat-of-arms of the Wesselényi and Daniel families above the entrance is the masterpiece of Anton Schuchbauer. The well-known sculptor from Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca) finished the relief in 1786. The one-storey castle has 14 rooms and an 8,000 sqm inside garden. It also has an immense cellar.

Hungarian castle in Transylvania
Source: FB/Emil Radu Moldovan

In the 19th century, the castle switched hands and became the property of another historic Hungarian family in Transylvania, the Teleki family. The family even “gave” a prime minister to Hungary, Pál Teleki, who served between 1920-21 and 1938-41 as head of the Hungarian government. Following the Hungarian attack against Yugoslavia to liberate local Hungarians and reconquer Hungarian territories lost after WWI, Teleki committed suicide.

Communist Romania nationalised the castle after WWII. Afterwards, offices and a grain store operated inside. After the fall of Communism in 1989-1990, its ownership passed to the county council. They tried to sell it in 2015 for EUR 110 thousand but could not find a buyer.

In 2016, experts gave only years until the final collapse of the castle building. Its roof collapsed before, and there were talks about static problems.

Hopefully, the renewed castle will welcome visitors from 2028.

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  • 600-year-old Hungarian castle beautifully renewed – PHOTO GALLERY and details in THIS article

Hungarian government supports revamping Transylvanian university building

Hungarian government helps renovate university building in Transylvania

The Hungarian government will provide 560 million forints (EUR 1.4m) for the refurbishment of another property belonging to the Hungarian Sapientia University of Transylvania, Culture Minister Balázs Hankó said in Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár), in north-western Romania, on Friday.

The building, a historical monument in the centre of Cluj, will serve as a accommodation for guest professors and will host specialised courses after renovation, the minister said.

“Our mission is to ensure that Hungarian youth in the Carpathian Basin can acquire competitive skills and preserve their Hungarian identity at the same time,” Hanko told a press conference at the building.

Hungarian government helps renovate university building in Transylvania
Photo: MTI

The single-storey building was purchased by the Sapientia Foundation from a grant provided by the Hungarian government in 2021.

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Romania’s Roman Catholic archbishop warns of ‘attacks against Christianity’ in Budapest

Romania's Roman Catholic Archbishop Aurel Perca

Aurel Perca, the archbishop of Bucharest, noted the “attacks against Europe’s Christian values” in his sermon at a ceremonial mass in Budapest’s Saint Stephen’s Basilica, on the day of the basilica’s name-giver and Hungary’s national holiday on Tuesday.

The archbishop said “Christian culture, which has facilitated welfare and development both for individuals and society, seems to teeter.”

“We are witnessing great battles waged against the Church and God, as if they wanted to wipe out the traces of a Christian Europe,” he said. “As long as some seek to see a Europe without God and Christian values Europe is in jeopardy,” he added.

Orbán’s secretary calls on Hungarians ‘to insist on Christian foundations’

Hungarians “must insist on the Christian foundations of their statehood” and seek alliance with communities that “have the courage to speak up against the desctructive and violent frenzy mocking Christian teaching”, Miklós Soltész, state secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, told a Saint Stephen’s Day celebration in Szekler Land, in Romania, on Tuesday.

Referring to the remonstrances of Stephen I, Hungary’s sainted king, to his son, Soltész said “it is important to welcome and take care of strangers but only as long as it does not jeopardise the Christian faith, the nation, and the homeland.” He also suggested that law was crucial but it should not be used “to tie up” countries or “to destroy the moral foundations of the created world”.

Soltész lambasted the European Union for what he saw as misinterpreting Christian teachings “for ideological and economic reasons” and for “abusing the patience and good nature of Christians to make them accept its destructive, pro-war ideology”.

The state secretary said it had been a major mistake by Europe’s Christian community “to accept the French Revolution’s ideals of separating church and state”. “We have allowed for the destruction of Judeo-Christian teachings, the foundations of Europe,” he insisted.

“We should bravely confess that we are proud that King Saint Stephen built the Hungarian state on solid foundations a thousand years ago and made Hungary a part of a Christian Europe,” Soltész said.

Culture minister marks national holiday at Esztergom

Balázs Hankó, the minister of culture and innovation, marked the August 20 national holiday at Esztergom, north of Budapest, on Tuesday.

Hankó said the holiday was that of a thousand years of Hungarian statehood, “which reminds us that we Hungarians can decide for ourselves which values to retain even without advice from so called friends.” Those values are “ones shaping and reinforcing the nation”, he added.

The Hungarian nation “does not need to be given directions … we know who we are, where we come from and where our place is in the world: we are at home in Europe,” the minister said.

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Featured image: Aurel Perca. Photo: MTI

Romania’s minimum wage rises, surpasses Hungary in EU rankings

forint money currency Hungarian wages minimum wage

Due to the rapid increase in the Romanian minimum wage, Hungarian wages have fallen in the ranking of EU member states and in comparison to other countries in the region.

The minimal wage in Romania has risen by nearly 23% within a year, thanks to the second increase in the last six months, which took effect on July 1. The country’s minimum wage was raised by 12% in February and by 10% at the beginning of the year, as reported by 444.

Due to the rapid increase in the Romanian minimum wage, Hungarian wages have fallen in the ranking of EU member states and in comparison to other countries in the region. In the 2010s, Hungarian wages were on par with the minimum wages in the V4 countries. However, the forint has depreciated significantly since then, and other countries have also begun a notable catch-up process, yielding visible results.

According to data from the second half of the year, the Hungarian gross minimum wage was EUR 675.27, while the Romanian minimum wage was 10% higher at EUR 743.37. The Hungarian minimum wage was only 8% higher than the previous year, due to the weakening of the forint against the euro each year.

While gross pay is essential information, what truly matters for workers is their take-home pay, and the picture is not much better in this regard. Although the Romanian gross minimum wage is already 10% higher than the Hungarian one, the net difference is only 6%.

The difference between the gross and net wages is due to varying tax rates, as gross wages are taxed slightly more heavily in Romania (38%) than in Hungary (33.5%).

Only Bulgaria has a lower minimum wage in the EU ranking

construction wages of manual workers, minimum wage
Photo: Pixabay

There has been a significant change in the EU ranking in the second half of the year, with Romania now ahead of Latvia, where minimal wage earners work for EUR 700, following the latest increase. Hungary remains in second-to-last place, just ahead of Bulgaria.

It is worth noting that Bulgaria is also on the path to catching up, with a nearly 20% minimal wage increase this year following a 9% rise last year. At this rate, they will match the current Hungarian minimum wage in two years.

The highest minimum wage remains in Luxembourg at EUR 2,570 per month. In Ireland, minimum wage earners receive EUR 2,146, and in the Netherlands, EUR 2,134.

However, in Hungary, there have been relatively significant increases in recent years. In 2022, the minimum wage increased by nearly 20% to HUF 200,000 (EUR 502) gross, followed by a 16% increase at the beginning of last year and another 15% increase in December. However, these increases only managed to cover the inflation during this period.

The level of minimum wage increases in Hungary has not been sufficient to improve its position in the EU ranking or the region, nor to compete with the country’s eastern neighbours.

Read also:

  • Hungarian workers earn less than 1/3rd of Austrian counterparts – Read here
  • The lowest-paid jobs in Hungary: staggering differences in net wages across the country – Read here

Featured image: depositphotos.com

Astonishing Transylvanian trail among the best places to visit in the world! – VIDEO

Via Transilvanica Transylvanian trail tourist route

TIME magazine has curated a list of the best places to visit in the world, and this year, an astonishing Transylvanian trail is among the top choices for tourists to explore.

TIME’s list

Lelépő reports that every year, TIME magazine compiles a list of the world’s best destinations, distinguishing between top hotels, unique accommodations and noteworthy places to visit. This year, the list includes a Transylvanian trail, Via Transilvanica, among other notable sites. Topping the ranking is Maui Cultural Lands in Hawaii, followed by the Kamba Rainforest in the Republic of Congo, the Pearling Path in Bahrain, the A EV Network in Western Australia, and Aviva Studios in Manchester.

About the Transylvanian trail

The 1,400-kilometre Transylvanian trail, known as Via Transilvanica, opened in 2022 and stretches across Transylvania from northeast to southwest. Traversing seven historical-geographical regions, including Bukovina, Szeklerland, and what used to be part of the Kingdom of Hungary, the trail showcases cultural monuments from every era.

Via Transilvanica Transylvanian trail tourist route
Source: Wikimedia Commons / T.seppelt

The route can be explored on foot, horseback, or by bicycle, and features granite milestones carved by both amateur and renowned stone carvers. Each milestone reflects local motifs, with notable designs like tulips in Szeklerland. The trail’s construction was a collaborative effort involving over ten thousand volunteers from four hundred settlements across ten counties.

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Orbán: Europe will be left alone to handle the war if it does not come to its senses

orbán tusványos

Europe will be left alone to handle the war in Ukraine if it does not ditch its pro-war stance, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in his address at the Balvanyos Summer University in Baile Tusnad, Romania, on Saturday, adding that the “pro-peace position” was “fermenting”.

orbán tusványos
Photo: Facebook/Orbán Viktor

The prime minister said changes in the global system were under way and Asia would be at its centre, so a “Hungarian grand strategy” was both needed and in the pipeline.

Noting his recent meeting with Romanian counterpart Marcel Ciolacu in Bucharest, Orban said: “We are making progress.” Romania is Hungary’s third most important economic partner, with economic and trade relations breaking new records, he added.

He said Hungary’s EU presidency will put the issue of Romania’s accession to Schengen on the agenda in October.

The two leaders also discussed the Bucharest-Budapest high-speed rail link, Orban noted.

The prime minister said that this year the Romanians had not tried to dictate what could be discussed at Tusvanyos. He added that many people in Brussels, however, had condemned Hungary’s peace mission, even though the bloc’s founding treaty stated that “the Union’s aim is to promote peace”.

Orban said: “Time is on the side of the politics of peace.”

Referring to the upcoming US presidential election, he declared: “Trump ante portas.” If Europe did not shift to a “peace policy” by the time of the November election, it would have to do so after Trump’s victory, “admitting defeat” and bearing the political consequences alone, he said.

He said Brussels “doesn’t like it when we call what they do a pro-war policy, because they think they’re supporting the war in the interest of peace.”

He added that since the start of the Hungarian “peace mission”, the US secretary of state had spoken with Russia’s foreign minister, and the Swiss foreign minister had also held talks with him.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he noted, had called Donald Trump, the former US president and Republican presidential candidate, and the Ukrainian foreign minister had visited Beijing.

“Albeit slowly, we’re moving away from a European pro-war policy in the direction of a pro-peace policy,” Orban said. “In other words, the fermentation has begun.”

If it were up to Ukraine and Russia, there would never be peace, so peace can only come from the outside, Orban said.

Both sides, he added, were taking “brutal” losses, “yet neither wants to reach a settlement”, Orban said, explaining that this was because both Ukraine and Russia believed that they could win and were fuelled by their own “perceived or real truth”.

Orban said the Ukrainians saw the war as a Russian invasion that violated international law and their territorial sovereignty, and that they were defending themselves and fighting a war of independence.

The Russians, on the other hand, believed that there had been “serious NATO military developments in Ukraine”, that the country had been promised NATO membership, and they did not want to see either NATO troops or the alliance’s weapons on the Russia-Ukraine border, he said. Russia therefore believed it had a right to self-defence and that the war had been provoked.

“So everyone has some kind of perceived or real truth, and neither side will give up the war,” the prime minister said.

“This is a straight path to escalation,” he said, stressing that there would be no peace if it were left up to the two warring sides. “Peace can only come from the outside,” Orban said.

Ruthless war provided a vantage point on “true reality”, he said. The true reality, he declared, cast a cold light on “ideologies, statistical manipulations, media distortions and tactical eavesdropping by politicians losing their power, their delusions and conspiracy theories”, which no longer had relevance. “What remains is the dust of brutal reality.”

He said that while in recent years the US had declared China to be its main challenger and opponent, “we’re still seeing that it’s fighting a proxy war against Russia and constantly accusing China of covertly supporting Russia.”

“If that’s true, then it begs the question as to why it’s rational to put two such large countries in the same enemy camp,” he said.

Orban also emphasised Ukraine’s defiance of expectations in terms of its reslilence, which he attributed to Ukraine getting “a flash of the perspective of belonging to the West” instead of being a buffer state.

Meanwhile, the prime minister said Russia “isn’t the firm neo-Stalinist autacracy the Brussels leaders trying to bring it to its knees with sanctions are trying to make it out to be, either”. Rather, he said, it was a country that was showing technical and economic, “and eventually, perhaps, social” flexibility.

Orban said European politics “has collapsed”, arguing that Europe had relinquished the protection of its own interests.

“Europe is currently following the politics of the US Democratic Party unconditionally, even at the cost of self-destruction,” he said, adding that sanctions imposed on Russia were hurting European interests, raising energy prices and making the European economy uncompetitive.

Orban said the European system of powers had so far been based on a “Paris-Berlin axis”, but this no longer existed, or had at least “become irrelevant and evadable” compared with the “new power centre” comprising London, Warsaw, Kyiv and the Baltic and Scandinavian states.

He said the idea of replacing the Paris-Berlin axis was not a new one but rather “an old Polish plan” that involved Poland becoming the continent’s main American base. This, he added, required “calling the Americans in there, between the Germans and the Russians”. But this, he added, could only be made a reality owing to the current war.

“This is an old plan: weaken Russia and surpass Germany,” Orban said, insisting that Poland was pursuing the “most deceitful politics” in Europe, arguing that “they’re obliviously doing business with the Russians while morally lecturing us for doing the same thing”.

He said Poland had abandoned the Visegrad cooperation in order to pursue this strategy as the V4, besides accepting the Paris-Berlin axis, acknowledged that “Germany is strong, Russia is strong, and between the two, in cooperation with the central European states, we form a third component”.

Orban also noted that Poland’s army is the second largest in Europe after France, with the country spending 5 percent of its GDP on defence.

The prime minister said Hungary’s “peace mission”, besides aiming for peace, was also about urging Europe to “finally pursue a policy of its own”.

Orban said the West had drifted into “intellectual loneliness”, arguing that until now it had seen itself as a point of reference, or a global standard, because it had been the one to contribute the values such as liberal democracy and the green transition, which the world had to accept.

“But this situation has taken a 180-degree turn over the last two years” Orban said, arguing that although the West had once again told the world to take a more determined stance against Russia, the reality was that “slowly everyone is supporting Russia”.

He said it was unsurprising that countries like North Korea and China were backing Russia, but Iran, India and even NATO-member Turkiye had joined them, and the Muslim world also saw Russia as a partner.

Orban said the biggest problem in the world was “the weakness and disintegration of the West”, as well as the Western media narrative that Russia was the biggest danger for the world.

“This is a mistake,” he said, arguing that Russia’s leadership was “hyper-rational, comprehendible and predictable”, unlike the West’s “irrational and unpredictable” actions.

He said Hungary’s task was to try to understand the West again. Central Europe’s worldview lay in the idea of nation states, while the West “believes that they no longer exist”, he added.

Also, the West, he said, thought differently about issues such as migration. While hundreds of thousands of Christians were killing each other in Europe’s east, hundreds of thousands of people from “foreign civilisations” were being allowed into the western parts of the continent.

He said the EU “not only thinks this way, but also declares it”, and their objective was to “transcend nations” and transpose their sovereignty to Brussels.

A similar battle was taking place in the United States, he said, so the stakes in the US presidential election “are enormous”.

Orban said Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, wanted to bring the American people back from the “post-national liberal condition” to the “national condition”.

Opposition to this endeavour was behind moves to thwart Trump’s candidacy, he said.

“This is why they want to put him in prison, why they’re stripping him of his wealth, and if that doesn’t work, this is why they wanted to kill him,” Orban said.

Orban said the “dramatic, democracy-shaking” political consequence of the post-national condition was the political problem of elitism and populism.

He said the elites “condemn the people for drifting towards the right” and labelled the people’s feelings and thoughts “xenophobic, homophobic and nationalistic”. Meanwhile, “the people”, he said, suspected the elite of “sinking into some mindless globalism” instead of caring about what mattered to them.

He said this raised the problem of representative democracy: the elite, “even quite proudly”, did not want to represent the people, leaving the people effectively disenfranchised.

Orban said the elites “only find the values held by degree-holders acceptable”. This, he added, resulted in Brussels remaining “occupied by a liberal oligarchy”. “This left-liberal elite is actually organising the Transatlantic elite, which isn’t European but global, isn’t made up of nation-states but is federal, and isn’t democratic but political,” the prime minister said.

In the next decades Asia will be at the centre of the global system, Orban said.

“Europe can then decide whether it wants to be an open-air museum or a part of global competition,” he said, adding that changes were now afoot that had not been seen in the past 500 years.

Leading powers had come from the West over the past 150 years while change was now coming from Asia, he declared, citing Asia’s “demographic, technological and capital” advantage in more and more areas.

Orban referred to Asia’s military power and financial prowess, saying “the world’s biggest companies will be Asian” and the best universities and research institutes and largest stock exchanges would be based there.

Orban said former US president Donald Trump was seeking an American response to this state of affairs, and this represented America’s “last chance” to remain as a world leader.

The prime minister said that Europe had two options: to become an open-air museum in a “subordinated role to the US” or to follow French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to achieve strategic autonomy and “enter the competition for changing the global system”.

Orban insisted that it was feasible to recover Europe’s ability to attract capital and implement big infrastructure developments, “especially in central Europe”.

“We need a European military alliance with strong European military industry,” he said, adding that Europe must also be self-sufficient in terms of energy, for which nuclear power was indispensable. All this, he added, must be concluded after a post-war agreement with Russia is forged.

Orban said changes in the current global system presented more of an opportunity than a danger, “and our room for manoeuver is broader than at any time in the last 500 years”.

Orban said that 500 years ago Europe had been a winner, while Hungary had been a loser of the previous global paradigm shift, arguing that whereas a new economic space had opened up for the western part of the continent, the Muslim conquests had turned Hungary into a war zone for a long period, which afterwards had been forced to integrate into a German-Habsburg world.

He said developments in the United States “are going favourably for us”, adding, however, that he did not believe that the US could give Hungary “a better economic-political offer” than European Union membership could. “But if they can, we must take it into consideration,” he said.

Orban said China had given Hungary “the maximum it can offer” and considered Hungary’s EU membership an asset, “unlike the Americans, who always imply that we should leave [the EU].” China’s offer, he said, was that “we should participate in each other’s modernisation”, even if the differences in size should be kept in mind.

The prime minister said the western part of the EU “won’t ever return to the nation-state form”, adding that the bloc’s eastern half could protect nation states.

He said the EU had “lost the ongoing war” and would be abandoned by the US, adding that Brussels would not be able to finance the war in Ukraine or the country’s operations. This, he said, meant that “the European Union will have to pay the price of the war escapade, which will be high and will affect us unfavourably.”

Orban said it followed from this that the EU accepted that “central European countries will remain in the European Union” and they would remain nation states “pursuing their own foreign policy”.

“They don’t like it, but they’ll have to put up with it,” he said, adding that the number of such countries would only increase.

Given fundamental changes in the global system, a “Hungarian grand strategy” is needed, Orban said.

Policies for the period between 2010 and 2030 “will be carried out and completed”, he said. “But given [epochal] changes in the global system, these won’t be enough,” he said, explaining that connectivity was key to Hungary’s “grand strategy”.

He said Hungary must not find itself locked into either of the emerging Western or Eastern economies. “We must be present in both,” he said.

“We won’t enter into a war against the East or into technical and commercial blockades,” he added.

Also, the strategy encompassed sovereignty rooted in economic foundations, he said, adding that this meant fostering domestic national champions, competitive medium-sized firms, companies producing for the domestic market, and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Orban said several Hungarian national champions were competitive abroad in the banking sector, the energy sector, the food industry, the production of agricultural raw materials, IT, telecommunications, the media, the construction industry, real estate development, the pharmaceutical industry, military industry, logistics, and also “somewhat” in the knowledge industry via universities.

He said the medium-sized enterprise sector was also competitive, and the Hungarian government will launch a large programme for SMEs in the 2025 “peace budget”.

Orban said bolstering Hungary’s financial independence, reducing the debt stock to 30 percent, and turning the country into a regional creditor were key goals.

This meant retaining the country’s production capacities rather than turning into a service-centred economy, Orban said. “We mustn’t make the same mistake as the West of outsourcing manufacturing jobs to guest workers … as this would lead to a barely stoppable social breakdown,” he said.

He emphasised the importance of Hungarian society’s “solid and flexible social structure”, and halting demographic decline.

“We got off to a good start, but now we’re stuck,” he said. New momentum was needed, he said, and by 2035 “Hungary has to be demographically self-sustaining so that any idea of the population being replaced by migrants would be out of the question”.

He said it was likely that tax discounts for children in 2025 would have to be doubled in a single year so as to regain demographic momentum.

Orban highlighted the importance of creating wealth and the financial independence of the middle class and preserving full employment, “and the key to this is maintaining the current relationship between work and Gypsies”.

“Work is available, but to live you need to work,” he said.

Orban said the Hungarian grand strategy would take another six months to ripen and evolve.

The strategy “must be based on national foundations” and should include all Hungarians around the world, Orban said.

Support systems which underpin the stability and flexibility of Hungarian society, such as family support, must be spread out to all areas inhabited by Hungarians beyond the borders within the foreseeable future.

He said Hungarian villages must be maintained. “The village is not a symbol of backwardness; city-level services must also be provided in villages, and cities must bear the financial burden of this,” he said.

On the topic of protecting sovereignty, Orban said it was important to protect national diversity, and as well as preserving the language it was vital to preserve religion, too, as without Christianity there would be no moral compass or guidance.

Politics, he said, must be adapted to “our national character”. Freedom, he added, must be built internally. The personal freedom of Hungarians must be built as well as the freedom of the nation, he said. Order, he added, was not an intrinsic value but a condition for freedom.

“Our opponents will say that instead of an independent national grand strategy, integration is needed. So they’ll attack constantly… They’ll question not only the grand strategy’s content but its necessity, too. This fight must be taken up.”

Orban said the strategy’s success also depended on people in their twenties and thirties. “[We] must find brave, young fighters with the sentiment of the nation,” he said.

Answering a question about “the insanity of Europe”, Orban said Western Europeans had a totally different interpretation of the world, and this “appears to us as deranged or irrational” whereas it wasn’t. “[T]hey will be our partners in this deranged state, in the European Union,” he said.

The prime minister said he enjoyed European Council meetings in a way, explaining that as a central European leader, he had to keep in mind his and their “matrices”, and the complex system of relationships between the two had to be translated constantly.

“This is the most beautiful part of politics in an intellectual sense,” he said.

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Orbán: European politics collapsed, Asia to be centre of the world in new global system

PM Orbán is in Kyiv, meets President Zelensky hungarian government Hungary's presidency

European politics “has collapsed”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his address at the Bálványos Summer University in Baile Tusnad, Romania, on Saturday, arguing that Europe had relinquished the protection of its own interests.

“Europe is currently following the politics of the US Democratic Party unconditionally, even at the cost of self-destruction,” Orbán said, adding that sanctions imposed on Russia were hurting European interests, raising energy prices and making the European economy uncompetitive.

Orbán said the European system of powers had so far been based on a “Paris-Berlin axis”, but this no longer existed, or had at least “become irrelevant and evadable” compared with the “new power centre” comprising London, Warsaw, Kyiv and the Baltic and Scandinavian states.

He said the idea of replacing the Paris-Berlin axis was not a new one but rather “an old Polish plan” that involved Poland becoming the continent’s main American base. This, he added, required “calling the Americans in there, between the Germans and the Russians”. But this, he added, could only be made a reality owing to the current war.

“This is an old plan: weaken Russia and surpass Germany,” Orbán said, insisting that Poland was pursuing the “most deceitful politics” in Europe, arguing that “they’re obliviously doing business with the Russians while morally lecturing us for doing the same thing”.

Orbán: Asia to be centre of the world in new global system

In the next decades Asia will be at the centre of the global system, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his address at the Balvanyos Summer University in Baile Tusnad, Romania, on Saturday.

“Europe can then decide whether it wants to be an open-air museum or a part of global competition,” he said, adding that changes were now afoot that had not been seen in the past 500 years.

Leading powers had come from the West over the past 150 years while change was now coming from Asia, he declared.

Orbán said former US president Donald Trump was seeking an American response to this state of affairs, and this represented America’s “last chance” to remain as a world leader.

The prime minister said that Europe had two options: to become an open-air museum in a “subordinated role to the US” or to follow French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to achieve strategic autonomy and “enter the competition for changing the global system”.

Orbán insisted that it was feasible to recover Europe’s ability to attract capital and implement big infrastructure developments, “especially in central Europe”.

“We need a European military alliance with strong European military industry,” he said, adding that Europe must also be self-sufficient in terms of energy, for which nuclear power was indispensable. All this, he added, must be concluded after a post-war agreement with Russia is forged.

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Orbán talks Schengen with Romania

orbán romania schengen

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu in Bucharest, and they assessed the current state of Hungarian-Romanian bilateral relations, the PM’s press chief said in a statement on Friday.

orbán romania schengen
Viktor Orbán and Marcel Ciolacu. Photo: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán

As the current holder of the EU rotating presidency, Hungary will put Romania’s full Schengen accession on the agenda in the autumn, the statement added.

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Hungarian deputy PM called for historic reconciliation with Romania

Ukraine cannot become an European Union member before it “eliminates the disenfranchisement of Hungarians in Transcarpathia”, Hungary’s deputy PM Zsolt Semjén said at the Balvanyos Summer University now under way at Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő), in Romania, on Friday.

Historic reconciliation with Romania

Speaking at a panel discussion, Semjén said it was in the interest of both Hungary and Romania to develop a “close cooperation between two countries dependent on each other” and called for a “historic reconciliation” with Romania, as it had happened between Hungary and Serbia. He said it was “atrocious” that Romania was still not a Schengen member “whereas it has met all the requirements”, adding that “Serbia should have been co-opted to the EU long ago.”

Deputy PM Zsolt Semjén Romania
Photo: FB/Zsolt Semjén

Concerning the recent EP elections, Semjén said his Christian Democratic Party’s quitting the European People’s Party had been “emotionally taxing” after being an EPP member for 34 years. The EPP is now “far from the founders’ conservative, Christian Democratic values and recently they have embraced several liberal parties just to retain their status as the largest group in the EP,” he insisted. The Christian Democrats had decided to quit after the EPP accepted MEPs of the newly emerged Hungarian Tisza Party as members, and “for a reason of principle”, Semjén said, adding that his party “cannot identify with the EPP’s position to provide full and unconditional support to Ukraine.”

Foreign minister: EU’s weak interest representation ‘historic sin of Brussels bureaucrats’

“The EU’s ability to enforce its interests has become as weak as never before, a historic sin of the bureaucrats of Brussels,” Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Friday.

“The EU today is incapable of defending its own member states, namely Slovakia and Hungary, against Ukraine’s blackmail; which can be owed to the EC president (Ursula von der Leyen) and the EU foreign and security policy chief (Josep Borrell),” Szijjarto said on Facebook, adding that “Ukraine has put at risk some 33 percent of Hungary’s and 45 percent of Slovakia’s crude oil imports by banning the transit of oil supplies by Russia’s Lukoil.”

“And instead of defending the two member states, the European Commission is coming up with excuses to defend Ukraine’s steps,” Szijjarto said, adding that “this is an unacceptable and outrageous behaviour on the part of Brussels bureaucrats”.

The foreign minister said he had spoken by phone with Juraj Blanar, his Slovak counterpart, earlier in the day, and they had agreed to continue their coordinated action on the matter. He said they agreed that EC and Ukraine’s action were “unacceptable,” adding that “we will not yield to blackmail, should it be directed at us either from Kyiv or from Brussels”.

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Orbán believes pro-peace forces will prevail in Europe

Orbán believes pro-peace forces will prevail in Europe

Pro-peace forces will sooner or later become the majority in Europe, Balázs Orbán, the prime minister’s political director, told a panel discussion at the Bálványos Summer University in Baile Tusnad, in central Romania. “Time is on their side,” he said.

He told a roundtable discussion on party politics that the Ukrainian decision to impose limitations on the amount of crude to be delivered through the country by Russian-owned Lukoil was linked to “the peace mission and Hungary’s stance on the war”.

“In just two weeks we managed to make waves causing serious problems in the entire pro-war force field. There is now an alternative strategy, represented by Hungary, and to be tabled at the meeting of European heads of state and government. This is a historic situation, and Hungary has a historic responsibility to do whatever it can for peace,” Orbán said.

orbán balázs political director Hungarian presidency 2024

The majority of Europeans want peace, European policy must change

Regarding Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s “peace mission”, LMP group leader Máté Kanász-Nagy said his party was pro-peace. At the same time, he said he had not seen “concrete results” of the peace mission: “I’m not sure it has brought peace closer.”

László György Lukács of Jobbik – Conservatives said the party had always stood up for “a fair peace”. “If that is the substance of the peace mission, Jobbik will support it.”

Lőrinc Nacsa of the junior ruling Christian Democrats (KDNP) slammed Jobbik, saying that Márton Gyöngyösi, the party’s leader until two weeks ago, had “voted for 17 pro-war decisions in the European Parliament”.

lőrinc nacsa kdnp
Source: Facebook/Nacsa Lőrinc

Orbán said peace was conditional on restoring communication channels. “How do they want peace if they refuse to speak with one of the [warring] parties?” The policies of the past 2.5 years “are a dead end”, he said.

He added that the Ukrainian leadership of the western Transcarpathia region of the country would be open to cooperating with Hungary, “but Kyiv is waging war; they want to beat the Russians. Due to its pro-peace stance, Kyiv politicians have identified Hungary as a political opponent,” he said.

Central Europe now has a party family in the EU

On the matter of the “quarantining” of the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, Lukács said no groups should be quarantined “for their role on a political side or its opinions”. “Lots of people have voted for those forces, and what happened is not right,” he said.

Orbán said that, similarly to the boycott of the EU Council meetings during Hungary’s presidency, the step was “revenge — insignificant, petty revenge”. The European People’s Party is now “as much in lockstep with the leftist mainstream as for example the Greens are,” he said. The true “logic of power”, he said, was whether a party belonged to a party family or not. “Up to now central Europe had no party family; now it has one,” he said, adding that that fact alone would boost the region’s ability to represent its interests.

Nacsa said the European Commission should “return to its original role” and to the rule of law. Instead, the Commission “is using so-called legal tools as a political cudgel” and regularly employs double standards against Hungary, he said.

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The Transylvanian election when the future Hungarian Prime Minister beat the Romanian Prime Minister

Hungarian Prime Minister Pál Teleki

Transylvania is truly a land of magic and wonders with its cloudy peaks, bears and wolves, magnificent fortresses and castles (one owned by Dracula himself back in the day) and rich cultural heritage. Here, it happened that the future Hungarian prime minister beat the future Romanian prime minister in an election that was unfortunately filled with tragedies in 1906.

The Hungarian opposition wins the elections

1905 and 1906 were strange years in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In Hungary, the governing party lost the 1905 general elections, but Emperor Franz Joseph did not nominate a prime minister from the victorious parties. Instead, he began a long and tiresome political crisis by appointing an officer as prime minister. He calculated well. The Hungarian pro-independence opposition rejecting the 1867 compromise became exhausted in the political struggle and gave up their programme.

Following the April 1906 compromise between Emperor Franz Joseph and the Party of Independence and ’48, the strongest opposition party, a new general election was held in the Kingdom of Hungary between 29 April and 8 May. Since the Hungarian electoral system had only districts, those parties had a representative in the Hungarian Parliament who could win a district. Interestingly, a candidate could run for multiple districts.

Pál Teleki was Hungary’s prime minister between 1920-1921 and 1939-1941. In 1906, he was just 27 years old, a jurist who prepared to become one of Hungary’s greatest experts in geography (creating the famous “Red Map of Hungary”). Being an aristocrat meant he had to participate in political life and Géza, his father was the MP of their district (Nagysomkút, Șomcuta Mare in Transylvania) before. In 1906, Géza ran for Nagybánya (today Baia Mare), so his son’s task was to win the “old” district of the family.

The Red Map
The nationalities of the Kingdom of Hungary. Pál Teleki’s “Red Map” showing Hungarians with red colour. Photo: Wikimedia

He already did that before. In 1905, when the pro-independence opposition won almost everywhere in the country, he managed to win in Nagysomkút. As an opposition candidate, he did not even have an opponent. But 1906 was different.

Teleki got a Romanian opponent

Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, one of the prominent politicians of the Romanian National Party, a political community representing the interests of the millions of Romanians living in the Hungarian Kingdom, ran for that electoral district.

Vaida-Voevod campaigned in Romanian, but Teleki also gave speeches in that language which he learnt from the local boys he played with when he was a minor.

The Romanian politician performed relatively well. We cannot discuss universal suffrage, so only approximately 4,000 people could vote in the district in 1906. More than 3,000 took part: Teleki received 1,706 while Vaida-Voevod had 1,342 votes.

The problem was that many soldiers were commanded in the district to “keep up order”. When officers arrested one of the supporters of Vaida-Voevod, some locals in Karulya attacked voters being carried on carts to Nagysomkút to vote for Teleki. Both the attackers and the attacked were ethnic Romanians. Two died, four injured.

The Hungarian Prime Minister who committed suicide for peace

Vaida-Voevod ran in other districts and got elected, so he became a member of the new Hungarian National Assembly. He slammed Teleki in his first speech and called him to return his mandate due to the violence. Teleki’s reply was short. He said he had nothing to do with it. After the political attack, he donated lots of money to the relief fund of the victims even if he had no responsibility for what happened.

Pál Teleki after his 1921 resignation
Pál Teleki after his 1921 resignation. Photo: Creative Commons

We wrote above that Teleki became prime minister of the Kingdom of Hungary twice. In 1920, he took office after Hungary signed the Peace Treaty of Trianon and lost 2/3rd of its territories and 1/3rd of its Hungarian population. In 1939, he regained the premiership only months before WWII began. On 3 April 1941, he committed suicide because he thought Hungary should not take part in the German attack against Yugoslavia even though hundreds of thousands of Hungarians lived there. That is why Sir Winston Churchill said in a radio speech following the suicide that one seat should be left empty for Teleki on the future WWII peace talks.

Hungarian Prime Minister Pál Teleki
PM Pál Teleki on the wedding of István Horthy, son of Governor Miklós Horthy, in 1940. Photo: Fortepan / Vass Károly

The Romanian Prime Minister who died in house arrest

Alexandru Vaida-Voevod was among the strongest supporters of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s federalisation. After the murder of heir Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, he saw no other option for the Romanians living in Hungary than joining the Kingdom of Romania. In October 1918, when the collapse of the central powers was on the horizon, he talked openly about that in the Hungarian Parliament. As a result, he had to leave the national assembly through a back door.

Alexandru Vaida-Voevod in 1911
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, 2nd from the right. Photo: Creative Commons

Later he became the prime minister of Romania three times, but only for short periods (1919-1920, 1931-1932, 1932 and 1933). He died in 1950 under house arrest in Nagyszeben (Sibiu), where he had to live after the Communists took power in 1946.

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Source: Balázs Ablonczy: A miniszterelnök élete és halála (Life and Death of the Prime Minister), Teleki Pál (1879-1941). Budapest, Jaffa, 2018.