Sometimes in Canada we have a tendency to see ourselves as exceptional when it comes to our model of multiculturalism and diversity. Yet societies throughout the world have found ways to handle diversity for centuries. In late June, I spent a week travelling along the Black Sea Coast, visiting Romania and Bulgaria. I was fortunate to have a private guide […]
A spokesperson for Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed “disappointment” over remarks that a high ranking Hungarian government minister made about the 1920 Treaty of Trianon and demands for an apology to Hungary. János Lázár, in a speech on the anniversary of a treaty which saw historic Hungary lose three fourths of its territory and two thirds of its […]
Romania’s former prime minister, Victor Ponta, expressed his enthusiasm for planned legislation in Hungary, which endangers the future of Central European University in Budapest. Mr. Ponta, a Member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, indicated that he intends to propose a similar law, in order to restrict the activities of foreign universities on Romanian soil. This may serve as a […]
Sevil Shhaideh was going to make history by becoming Romania’s first Muslim and first female prime minister. Ms. Shhaideh was nominated to become prime minister by the Partidul Social Democrat (PSD), the party that decisively won legislative elections earlier this month and by its junior coalition partner, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE). But Romania’s president, Klaus Johannis, refused Ms. Shhaideh’s nomination, without giving […]
Romania’s Social Democratic Party (Partidul Social Democrat, PSD) won in a landslide in Sunday’s legislative elections, garnering 45.44% of the vote–far ahead of the National Liberal Party (Partidul Național Liberal, PNL) at just 20%. The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség – RMDSZ) came in at fourth place with 6.25% of the vote, sending 16 representatives […]
The U.S. ambassador to Romania, Hans Klemm, recently visited the Romanian town of Sfântu Gheorghe (in Hungarian Sepsiszentgyörgy), which has a majority ethnic-Hungarian population. Mayor Árpád Antal, an ethnic Hungarian himself, asked him to stand behind a flag to make a photo. The flag is the so-called Szekler flag which is controversial in Romania; it is illegal to fly on […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin raised eyebrows among Romanians and raised hope among some Hungarian nationalists, by suggesting that reviewing the post World War II border between Hungary and Romania could be on the agenda, if people question Russia’s borders and territories. In June 1920, the Treaty of Trianon confirmed Hungary’s loss of Transylvania and its transfer to Romania. During the […]
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán became the first sitting leader of a European Union country to formally endorse Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump. Speaking at a gathering of right-wing politicians, thinkers and youth, in the heart of the Hungarian-majority region of Romania called Székelyföld (or Szeklerland), Mr. Orbán declared: “Trump would be better for Europe and for Hungary.” He then referred […]
Recently Hungary introduced a new holiday – National Cohesion Day to commemorate the “dire consequences” of the Trianon Peace Treaty, signed on June 4, 1920, following Austro-Hungary’s defeat in World War I. The Treaty was the result of The Peace Conference in Paris where Allied Powers negotiated the peace terms with the defeated Central Powers. Today historians agree that the […]
In the doldrums of summer, there is a growing and increasingly public conflict between Hungary’s Orbán government and the Ponta administration in Romania. In just the past two days, the diplomatic representatives of the two countries, serving in Budapest and Bucharest, have been summoned by the respective foreign ministries of the two EU member states and both are claiming that […]
