Post Tagged with: "Romania"

Viktor Orbán and Klaus Iohannis (right) - the smiles are gone

Meet Orbán’s enemy of the week: Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis

Carl Schmitt, the influential fascist German philosopher of the last century wrote that it is a waste of time to conduct politics through discussion, civilized debate and negotiation.  That is a “liberal idea.”  Schmitt believed that politics is a realm of struggle.  As he phrased it, “political actions and motives can be reduced to the struggle between friend and enemy.” […]

by · May 3, 2020 · Politics
The Székely flag displayed with pride at the Csíksomlyó pilgrimage.

The National Catholic Reporter on the Papal visit to Csíksomlyó, Translyvania

The National Catholic Reporter’s Joshua J. McElwee wrote an exhaustive piece on the upcoming visit of Pope Francis to Romania, emphasizing the trip’s significance from the perspective of outreach to the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, which counts 500,000 adherents. Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek Catholic bishops, recognizing as well the persecution that Greek Catholic clergy and faithful suffered in […]

by · May 22, 2019 · East
Csíksomlyó pilgrimage near Şumuleu Ciuc in Romania.

Hungary’s Jesuits and Orbán’s attempt to exploit Pope Francis’s visit to Romania

Hungary’s Catholic leadership is firmly behind Orbán, in fact, church events often serve as political tools to spread Orbán’s nationalist message in the Carpathian basin. Pope Francis plans to visit Romania and is expected to celebrate an outdoor Mass on June 1, 2019 at the shrine of Our Lady of Csíksomlyó, a pilgrimage site near Şumuleu Ciuc, Romania. This is […]

by · May 6, 2019 · Culture
Sixty-Four Counties Youth Movement rally at the Romanian Embassy in Budapest in 2016.

Hungarian American organization supports convicted violent neo-Nazis in Romania

Two Romanian citizens, Mr. István Beke and Mr. Zoltán Szőcs were arrested in November, 2015. They are ethnic Hungarians and local leaders of a group called Sixty-Four Counties Youth Movement (Hatvannégy Vármegye Ifjúsági Mozgalom). The two man were charged with planning to detonate an improvised device during the December 1, 2015, National Day celebration in Targu Secuiesc (Kézdivásárhely in Hungarian), […]

by · April 17, 2019 · Focus
Canadian soldiers celebrate Romania’s National Day on December 1, 2018.

Canadian and US soldiers participate, Hungary boycotts National Day Parade in Bucharest

On December 1 Romania held a military parade to celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Great Union, the foundation of modern-day Romania. On this day in 1918 the National Assembly was held in Alba Julia (Gyulafehérvár in Hungarian), where 1,228 elected delegates adopted the union resolution. The declaration promised “full national freedom” to all minorities and was read at a […]

by · December 3, 2018 · East
Géza Jeszenszky

Ex-Foreign Minister of Hungary suggests autonomy for Hungarians in Romania

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, told Romanian President Klaus Iohannis that he considers the Romanian national holiday commemorating the unification with Transylvania to also be a European celebration. Juncker said: “Romania will celebrate on December 1 of the current year its centenary, the centenary of the great union, as our Romanian friends say. I wanted to say to […]

by · November 21, 2018 · East
Brancusi with Margit Pogány

The Romanian sculptor and his Hungarian muse

Hungarian and Romanian politicians, on both side of the border, often create and thrive on conflicts between the two nations. For example, this year on December 1, Romania will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of modern state. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has already declared in a speech on Romanian soil (!), at Tusványos that “we understand why […]

by · August 11, 2018 · Culture
Szeklers are not Hungarians.

“Szeklers are not Hungarians” – Budapest disagrees

Recently the Hungarian Academy of Sciences issued the statement: The dominant historical, archaeological, ethnographic and linguistic standpoints consider the Szeklers to be an integral part of the modern Hungarian nation in ethno-cultural terms. This is the latest in an ongoing debate about the Szeklers (Székelyek in Hungarian). In February 2013 demonstrators appeared in front of the Hungarian Consulate in the […]

by · August 1, 2018 · Diaspora, Politics
Kányádi (in the middle) with fellow Transylvanian Prof. Albert-László Barabási (left) and George Soros (right).

Sándor Kányádi 1929-2018

Poet and translator Sándor Kányádi has died at age 90. Kányádi was born in 1929 in Nagygalambfalva (today Porumbeni), in rural Transylvania. He moved to Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) in 1950 where he completed his university studies and worked as a Hungarian language and literature teacher. He started to publish poems in 1955 in literary and children’s magazines and also became active […]

by · June 24, 2018 · Culture
Mr. László Brenzovics and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

The Orbán government should not block Ukraine’s NATO and EU integration

The conflict between Hungary and Ukraine is getting out of control. The Orbán Government’s retaliatory blocking of Ukraine’s NATO and EU integration have met unanimous criticism. The dispute between Hungary and Ukraine began over the so-called Language Law. Ukraine’s Parliament passed legislation to promote the use of the Ukrainian language. Western Ukraine has a multi-ethnic population, among them ethnic Hungarians. […]

by · May 4, 2018 · East