Post Tagged with: "Romania"

Mr. Orbán speaking in Tusnádfürdő, Romania, on Saturday. Photo: Facebook.

Hungary’s prime minister endorses Donald Trump

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 […]

by · July 23, 2016 · Politics
Hungarian neo-Nazis stage a demonstration in Budapest in front of the Embassy of Romania on National Cohesion Day, June 4, 2016.

Trianon-cult, neo-Horthyism, National Cohesion Day

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 […]

by · June 5, 2016 · Diaspora
The two Vic(k)tors: Victor Ponta of Romania (left) and Viktor Orbán of Hungary (right).

Growing diplomatic row between Hungary and Romania

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 […]

by · August 11, 2015 · Politics
Musai/Muszáj demonstration in Kolozsvár/Cluj-Napoca, calling for greater trilingualism. Balloons represent the  colours of the Hungarian and Romanian flags. Photo: Tamás Bethlendi.

Multicultural Romania: Young Hungarians use creative protests to call for trilingual Cluj-Napoca

A group of local Hungarians and liberally-minded Romanian allies in the Transylvanian town of Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) are attracting some international attention, thanks to their flash mobs and a creative use of social media that call for the municipality to replace unilingual Romanian road signs with trilingual ones, featuring Romanian, Hungarian and German. The group calls itself Musai-Muszáj (the Romanian/Hungarian word […]

by · April 10, 2015 · Diaspora
German Chancellor Merkel shares a light moment with Klaus Iohannis (left) President of Romania and Jean-Claude Juncker (middle) President of the European Commission

Romania’s new president ignores Orbán’s nationalist rhetoric

Recently, I had a chance to chat with Johannes Bloos the Deputy Consul General of the German Consulate in San Francisco, California. Mr. Bloos is a Saxon; his parents were part of this German speaking community in Brasov, Romania, before they immigrated to Germany. We talked about another Romanian-Saxon, Romania’s new president – Mr. Klaus Iohannis. His recent election was […]

by · March 23, 2015 · East
Map of Székely lands

Comparison of Romania to Islamic State at Budapest demo ruffles feathers in Bucharest

A Budapest demonstration in support of autonomy for Romania’s Hungarian-majority Székelyföld (Szeklerland) counties of Kovászna, Hargita and parts of Maros county has caused a political storm, when organizers called Romania “the Islamic State of Europe.” Bogdan Aurescu, Romania’s foreign affairs ministere, telephone his Hungarian counterpart, Péter Szijjártó, to officially protest the accusation made by Árpád György Mózes, the president of […]

by · March 14, 2015 · Diaspora
Klaus Johannis. Photo: Facebook.

Romania’s German turn: President-elect Johannis sends a message to Hungary’s Orbán

Romania’s President-elect, Klaus Johannis, might want to send a thank you card to the 3 million Romanian citizens living and working abroad. And also to Transylvania’s Hungarian population. Without them, Prime Minister Victor Ponta would have been able to change political chairs and become the country’s new left-leaning president, replacing Traian Băsescu, who was completing his second and final term […]

by · November 17, 2014 · East
Blue represents counties that supporter Mr. Johannis, while those in red voted for Mr. Ponta. The two Hungarian-majority counties of Székelyföld, or Szeklerland, voted for Mr. Kelemen, of RMDSZ. Illustration produced by Transindex.ro and based on 98% of the votes.

Romanian presidential election: Transylvanian German to take on Ponta in second round

The main Hungarian candidate in the first round of voting in Romania’s presidential election – Hunor Kelemen of the centrist Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) – received only 3.50% of the vote on Sunday, but came out on top in the country’s two Hungarian majority counties, namely: Hargita (Harghita) and Kovászna (Covasna). The right-wing Transylvanian Hungarian People’s Party […]

by · November 4, 2014 · East