Latest news with #RMDSZ
Budapest Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Government to double donations for flood-hit Szeklerland
Raging floods in Szeklerland have caused widespread damage beyond the catchment area of the Praid salt mine. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the government will double donations received from the public media's all-day fundraising for Szeklers in Transylvania, Romania, affected by the flood catastrophe. Botond Barna Bíró, the head of Harghita county council, took part in today's cabinet meeting, PM Orbán noted in a video after Wednesday's meeting. Raging floods in Szeklerland have caused widespread damage beyond the catchment area of the Praid salt mine, he said. 'So we must help Haromszek as well,' he said. The government is coordinating with the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) party on the distribution of aid, and the relevant talks will continue with the RMDSZ president on Thursday, the prime minister said. PM Orbán thanked Hungary's public media for organizing the fundraiser for National Cohesion Day in cooperation with the Ecumenical Relief Organization to help the Szeklerland. The government has added a forint for every one donated, he said in the video posted to his official social media page.
Budapest Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Hungarian government to provide aid to Praid and every Hungarian living there
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the Hungarian government will provide exhaustive aid 'not only to Praid [Parajd in Transylvania] but to all the Hungarians living there'. 'Praid is a part of Hungarians' national identity,' PM Orbán said in an interview with public radio on Friday in connection with the recent natural disaster that hit Praid's salt mines. 'They love the place as their own; it almost belongs to us… What happens there feels as if it happened to us. It's painful,' he said, adding that many people stood ready to help in the aftermath of the disaster. 'But for now, the situation is very difficult, almost hopeless,' he said. In addition to the disaster in Praid, floods in the Haromszek region had created a serious situation and 'Hungarians there will also need help', he said. Meanwhile, PM Orbán said Romania's ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party was 'a well-organised, strong party which promotes Hungarian interests, not only politically but economically, too.' He said he was in contact with RMDSZ leader Hunor Kelemen and had promised all the aid necessary.
Budapest Times
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Budapest Times
PM Orbán holds talks with RMDSZ leader
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Kelemen Hunor, the leader of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), in his office on Monday. According to MTI , PM Orbán said the Hungarian government welcomed the unity shown by the Transylvanian Hungarian community in preventing an 'anti-Hungarian president' from coming to power in Romania. The prime minister said his government was prepared to cooperate with Nicusor Dan, Romania's president-elect, adding that they will continue to consider RMDSZ's position as the basis for Hungarian-Romanian ties.
Euronews
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Hungarian minority plays key role in Dan's Romanian presidential win
High voter turnout, including many young people and women heading to the ballot box, was one of the decisive factors that overturned the first round score and propelled Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan across the line to win Sunday's presidential runoff in Romania. The Romanian Hungarian minority also played a strong part, as in both rounds, the counties where they live were overwhelmingly in favour of Dan. That's according to István Székely, the vice president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), who said those factors meant a victory for Dan rather than "the extremist and anti-Hungarian George Simion." Székely told Euronews that Dan could launch a centre-right presidential movement, similar to that of Emmanuel Macron in France, but he does not believe that the country's current party structure will allow for immediate change. The leader of the Hungarian minority group noted that both candidates represented radical change. "It's true that they wanted to take the country in opposite directions, but the need for radical change unites them", Székely said. "With the current composition of the parliament, it will be difficult to meet this demand, but at the same time, I think early elections are out of the question for various reasons." But regarding what happened at the polls, Székely admitted that the presidential election did finish according to the RMDSZ's predictions. He said the alternative candidate they supported against George Simion did not win, but voters understood the election's stakes and chose instead to back the pro-Europe Dan. "A victory for George Simion would have been dangerous in any case, given his record and aggressiveness," said analyst and lawyer, Péter Eckstein-Kovács, a well-respected minister and former senator in the Romanian parliament. "This danger was felt by the vast majority of Hungarians in Transylvania. They voted for Nicușor not out of fear, but out of common sense. If there is a dangerous person, let's shoot him," the former RMDSZ politician said when asked if Hungarians in Transylvania had anything to fear. "We will be left with about five million xenophobes in the future. It is not easy to digest." George Simion, the hard-right, nationalist leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), had election flyers printed with a photo of himself alongside one of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán with the slogan "The Romanians can count on the Hungarians in their fight for Christianity and sovereignty." While saying he does not interfere in Romania's election, Orbán appeared to support Simion in the runoff, while the Romanian nationalist candidate repeatedly tried to obtain the Hungarian prime minister's endorsement and thus his influence on the Romanian Hungarian voters for the battle in which every ballot counted. As part of his strategy, Simion recalibrated his nationalist political platform in the second round, appealing to the Hungarian community — known for its disciplined approach to voting — and their party. During the campaign for the second round, political sources in Budapest told Euronews that emissaries from Simion's campaign had been in contact with Orbán's government, ahead of the decisive vote last Sunday Just as the runoff campaign began, Orbán referenced Simion in a speech in the Hungarian town of Tihany and then on social media saying that while 'Romania's elections are none of our business ... we assure the Romanian people and their future president: Hungary stands for unity, not division." "We will not support any form of political isolation against Romania or its leaders. Romanians can count on Hungarians in their fight for Christianity and sovereignty,' Orbán emphasised. Yet Orbán's statement drew immediate backlash from UDMR/RMDSZ President Kelemen Hunor, who responded in a Facebook video that 'Simion is not a friend of the Hungarians — and never will be.' 'George Simion is not a sovereignist; he is a charlatan. Each cell (in his body) represents the principle that Hungarians don't have a place in Romania,' Hunor said. Orbán then spoke with Hunor by phone, reiterating that Hungary does not interfere in Romania's election and that ultimately the Hungarian party's position prevails in this debate: 'the Hungarian government deems that Romania's Hungarian Democratic Party's position to be decisive, the interest of the Transylvanian Hungarians is indicative." "We have always cooperated with all Romanian leaders, of all times, for the progress of the Transylvanian Hungarians' life and existence," Orbán said. On Tuesday, Eckstein-Kovács told Euronews that "Orbán shot himself in the foot with his pro-Simion comments in Tihany," "He did so after the RMDSZ, the civil sector, and church leaders had all urged support for Nicușor. He believed that Transylvanians loved him so much that they were unthinkingly following his recommendations and growing the anti-EU far-right party group. Well, it didn't work," Eckstein-Kovács added. "The Transylvanians voted against Simion in their own well-perceived interest. But very much so. The Orbán effect has been shattered," he said. Orbán has since congratulated Dan on his victory in the Romanian presidential elections, saying in a post on X he looked forward to "working together on strengthening the cooperation between Hungary and Romania, to the benefit of our peoples." Historian Stefano Bottoni believes the RMDSZ found it challenging to walk the tightrope and satisfy both Budapest and Bucharest after Orbán seemed to pledge support for Simion. Bottoni described the Hungarian prime minister's move not so much an international violation but rather a political mistake. "It's a transnational space; everybody interferes in everything. I don't see a serious sovereignty problem here," Bottoni told Euronews. According to Bottoni, Orbán's mistake was in thinking that what works in Hungary will also work in Romania. "The RMDSZ has found itself between two seats: there is Bucharest, where it is part of a government and a long-established member of the political elite, and there is Budapest, where it has very different expectations and it cannot meet both," Bottoni explained. Bottoni stressed that what Orbán offered was an alliance that would have been critical for Romania's Hungarian community. "The fact that the Hungarian prime minister did not see this or did not care is a cause for reflection, because it has been a long time since Viktor Orbán made such a serious political mistake in Hungarian-Hungarian political relations," he said. The fact that two candidates critical of the political system made it to the second round also shows that mainstream parties failed to take advantage of the reprieve offered by the runoff. "It is clear that something has to change," Bottoni added. "The only way for the democratic political system to survive this crisis is to come up with something: whether it's a new coalition, new formations, new ideas, a new style of governance. I think that Romanian democracy has a chance now and it is very important not to miss it, because there may not be a second one." In Romania, the president's office is more than just ceremonial. In addition to approving laws passed by parliament and heading the military, the president is also in charge of foreign policy, representing the country at the European Council. Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada's personal secretary Ximena Guzmán and adviser José Muñoz were assassinated as they travelled to work on Tuesday morning, the country's authorities have said. The two were shot dead at around 7 am on a busy thoroughfare in the capital's Moderna neighbourhood. An investigation has been launched into their murders, which experts say show the hallmarks of an organised crime hit. It is the worst attack in recent years against public officials in the capital — where political violence is less common than in other parts of the country. Photos from the crime scene show an Audi's windscreen riddled with bullet holes. Mexico security analyst David Saucedo, who questioned why someone as senior as Guzmán did not have a security detail, said the murders were likely carried out to put pressure on Brugada's administration. Mexican President Sheinbaum, of the Morena party to which Brugada also belongs, condemned the killings at her daily morning press conference. 'We will not let this cowardly act go unpunished,' said Omar García Harfuch, the country's security minister who survived an assassination attempt five years ago while he was the city's police chief. Brugada paid tribute to Guzmán and Muñoz shortly after their deaths, before vowing to continue her administration's 'relentless fight against insecurity'. Mexico capital's mayor, who had worked with them both for years, called Guzmán a 'wonderful, tireless' person and described Muñoz as 'one of the most intelligent people' she had ever met. 'We in the city's cabinet are shocked and mourn the loss of two dear comrades,' Brugada said. Homicides in Mexico City in the first quarter of 2025 were slightly up from the same period the previous year. The murders on Tuesday follow the recent killings of political figures elsewhere in the country, including a mayoral candidate in Veracruz state who was gunned down along with three others at a campaign rally earlier this month.
New Straits Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Hungary's Orban: collateral damage in Romania's election?
HUNGARY'S Prime Minister Viktor Orban was so convinced that far-right eurosceptic candidate George Simion was going to win Romania's presidential elections that he gave him his tacit support. But Simion was defeated by pro-European centrist Nicusor Dan on Sunday, losing Orban his bet – and, potentially, future political support of his own. Orban's endorsement of Simion angered Romania's one million-strong ethnic Hungarians, whose religious and political leaders feared his victory as a threat to minority rights. In 2019, Simion – a former football hooligan – was involved in violent clashes at an Austro-Hungarian cemetery from World War I, the most violent inter-ethnic incident in Romania in several decades. He also urged a ban on ethnic parties, labelling Romania's Hungarian minority party RMDSZ as "ethnic terrorists." Many ethnic Hungarians expressed shock at Orban's policy U-turn. Just last year, his Fidesz party refused to sit in the same faction as Simion's "extremely anti-Hungarian" AUR party in the European Parliament. Since his return to power in 2010, Orban has been building ties with the influential diaspora, opening up an easy path to Hungarian citizenship – and voting rights. He also financed several projects such as the renovation of churches and schools mostly in Romania's Transylvania region. His bid to woo local voters, many of whom have dual citizenship, seems to have borne fruit. In 2022, more than 90 per cent of ethnic Hungarians voted for Fidesz. But Orban's support for Simion has thrown a spanner in the works. "The threat to our minority rights takes precedence over everything else – the division between left and right, what politicians say," said Szilard Simon from Romania's Harghita county, where Dan received his best national score with more than 90 per cent. "He bet on the wrong horse," he added. "Orban's entourage seems to have thought that Simion could not be beaten," said minority expert Nandor Bardi of Hungary's HUN-REN research centre. Until now seen by many as a "charismatic visionary", Orban's image has "suffered a huge blow", he added. Shortly before the election, Orban tried to limit the fallout of his comments. Following a call with RMDSZ chief Hunor Kelemen, Orban claimed that he did not want to influence Romania's presidential elections "in any way." Among ethnic Hungarians "there is a general rejection of Orban's" recent moves, Laszlo Tokes, a former EU lawmaker of Fidesz and a key figure of Romania's 1989 revolution, told AFP. He argued that the Hungarian premier was "too hasty" in taking sides, with Orban prioritising his political ambitions in Europe over the interests of the diaspora. Orban also recently promised Hungary's backing in what he dubbed the "struggle for Christianity and sovereignty" within the European Union. Simion referenced Orban's backing in leaflets and on social media. Both Simion and Orban share a disdain for "Brussels bureaucrats", oppose sending aid to Ukraine, and have expressed admiration for US President Donald Trump. Orban faces elections next year, with political opponents seeking to capitalise on his failed endorsement of Simion. His main rival, opposition leader Peter Magyar, last week protested what he called Orban's betrayal of the Hungarian diaspora in Romania. He also went on a 300-kilometre (186-mile) march to Romania in protest. "They have also discovered the true face of Fidesz, that all it needs are their votes – and otherwise it abandons and casts them away," Magyar said. Tokes, though, downplayed the repercussions on Orban, assessing that the Hungarian leader's recent "statements did not help him" but there would be no "far-reaching implications."
