Romania says it does not play Orbán’s «games» after his references to ‘Greater Hungary’

SManalysis

Romania's Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca has preferred to dodge the latest controversy of his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orbán, after he appeared wearing a scarf referring to 'Greater Hungary' -- which includes Romanian territories -- and has asserted that it is better not to get into "these kinds of games".

"It is not the first time that we observe this type of outbursts of tone, I don't think we should enter into this type of games," Ciuca expressed this Wednesday during the joint press conference with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, on the occasion of the Spanish-Romanian summit held in Castellón.

However, Ciuca did ask that "the norms" and "the rules of the rule of law" be respected, emphasizing that for Romania "collaboration" between states and "the option of dialogue are always open".

Finally, the Romanian Prime Minister also called for respect for "relations based on what was agreed at European and international level", in reference to the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, which came into being after the end of World War I and with which the Kingdom of Hungary lost 70 percent of its territory.

The controversy arose after the Hungarian government's own channels showed images of Orbán at a national team soccer match wearing a scarf with an image of the kingdom of Hungary, which includes among other territories now Romanian, Ukrainian, Czechoslovakian, among others.

Before Ciuca, other Romanian authorities reproached that this "irresponsible" and "revisionist" gesture of Orbán placed him closer and closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they also accused of "dreaming" of changing the borders, in a clear reference to the war in Ukraine.

"Orbán must be held accountable for this act incompatible with the status of a member of the family of liberal democracies", said Romanian MEP Alin Mituta.

Like Romania, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also protested and demanded an "official apology", while announcing that it would summon the Hungarian ambassador in Kiev to give explanations for this "unacceptable" act.