Romania’s response to the Hungarian president’s visit to attend commemorations of the 1848/49 revolution by ethnic Hungarians in Romania did not help advance mutually flourishing relations, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The president’s visit on March 14 to Nyergesteto/ Varful Negoiasa Mare, Romania, was complicated by the Romanian authorities’ withdrawal of a landing permit for his plane in Transylvania, a north Romanian region inhabited by over one million ethnic Hungarians.
Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz had deemed the move unfriendly, as well as Romania’s summoning of the Hungarian ambassador, sending a message that Solyom’s visit was not considered to be in line with the spirit of Hungarian-Romanian strategic relations.
“President Solyom’s visit to Romania is an important element of strategic co-operation between Hungary and Romania, which are EU partners and NATO allies, and (the visit) served not to hinder but to strengthen a nexus of partnership between them,” the statement said.
“To question these intentions acts against developing partnership, so it is unacceptable,” it added.
The ministry, however, was pleased to note that the March 15 commemorations attended by President Solyom took place in a solemn and dignified manner. It also acknowledges that the Romanian police in the end had cooperated in securing free passage for the president’s car convoy.
Hungary is convinced that the common need for modernisation unites their countries, as do bilateral and EU infrastructure and regional development projects, and joint security responsibilities in the region within an EU and Atlantic framework, the statement said.
