The provocation is a latest in a series of such acts from the chauvinistic activist.Continue reading
Surprisingly, there are some Hungarians from Transylvania and the Szekler (Székely) Land in Romania who are speaking out in favor of ultra-nationalist candidate George Simion on social media and announcing their intention to vote for him in the second round of the presidential elections, instead of the liberal candidate Nicușor Dan. The news portal Maszol.ro asked political analyst Zsolt Pászkán about the motives behind this paradoxical decision to vote for an anti-Hungarian candidate.
According to the analyst, Simion’s Hungarian supporters often say that the AUR president has a similar foreign policy line to Viktor Orbán, Giorgia Meloni, or even Donald Trump. But they forget to mention the difference between the Italian or American leaders on the one hand, and Simion on the other: they are not anti-Hungarian in the slightest. Or is there such a thing as a “good” anti-Hungarian politician?”, the Klausenburg portal asked the Romania expert from the Hungarian Institute for Foreign Affairs in Budapest.
The analyst began by referring to alleged attempts to deliberately influence Hungarian-speaking voters. In his opinion: “They want to sway ethnic Hungarians by bringing up the issue of sovereignty and Orbán’s compatibility with Simion, who through the European Conservatives and Reformists block in the European Parliament (ECR), together with the mainstream of the European Parliament, tried to isolate Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party. This only failed because the Hungarian Prime Minister successfully fended off the maneuver by founding the Patriots for Europe faction,” Pászkán recalled.
The expert posed the question: How much can one trust Simion’s “sovereigntism” and the “dissolution” of his anti-Hungarian sentiment when, in an interview with Digi24 just one or two days after the May 4 elections, he openly admitted that the 35,000 EUR apartment promised to all Romanians was just a marketing ploy? As long as no measures are taken in this direction, Zsolt Pászkán believes it is still too early to decide
whether his emphasis on “sovereigntism” is not just a marketing ploy that some Hungarians might fall for.
“I wonder if Simion will continue down this path when he receives the first slap in the face from the Eurocrats,” said the political analyst. In his opinion, the problem lies not only in Simion’s personal charlatanism, but also in the ‘team’ behind him that he intends to deploy.
Simion has already indicated that his goal is to nominate Călin Georgescu as prime minister, who earlier stated that Hungarians should keep their heads down because the Romanians had “given them water and land.”
Lurking behind Simion are Dan Tanasă or Petrişor Peiu, who have been waging a war in the media and in various institutions of the Romanian Academy for decades against Hungary’s economic aspirations and Hungarian economic development programs in Transylvania, the Partium region, and the Szeklerland. Or Dan Dungaciu, who has also been waging a decades-long war against the current Hungarian government, or Ioan-Aurel Pop, who wants to wipe out the Hungarian community culturally, linguistically, and ethnically by means of historical falsification,” the expert explained.
Pászkán pointed to the many people who support Simion and make life hell for the local community by defacing Hungarian inscriptions with graffiti, tearing down Szekler flags, and dragging mayors to court for using Hungarian and Szekler symbols. “And those who have tried every year to prevent Viktor Orbán from giving his speech in Tusnádfürdő with demonstrations, or who have tried to liquidate Szeklerland with laws and force Hungarians to show respect to the Romanian people, even by law,” the analyst continued.
He remarked that the Hungarians in Transylvania have already paid twice for electing a Romanian politician who was obviously “against the system,” because at the time, both Traian Băsescu and Klaus Iohannis were considered “anti-establishment” politicians.
There are no “good” anti-Hungarian politicians, there are only different shades of bad,
and in this case, the anti-Simion camp needs and can count on the support of the Hungarians more than the anti-Hungarian chauvinists of AUR,” the expert emphasized.
When asked whether there could be some kind of cooperation between Simion and Orbán if Simion were elected head of state, Pászkán emphasized that the Hungarian Prime Minister represents all Hungarian citizens and is responsible for all Hungarians. “And as Fidesz chairman, he will also develop his tactics and strategy for cooperation, taking into account the above-mentioned goals and tasks. And he is working with what he has got right now,” said the political scientist.
If necessary, Orbán would probably be forced to cooperate on specific issues, including with Simion, should he become president of Romania.
“In the organizations where the heads of state and government of the EU Member States come together, it is now necessary to work with heads of government or heads of state with whom the Hungarian Prime Minister disagrees on many or almost all issues. In my opinion, Simion should first prove that he is capable of curbing his own hostility toward Hungary and that of his party and supporters, and only then can there be any talk of support. This was the case with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić,” said Pászkán.
Via Maszol; Featured photo: Wikipedia