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The most important task of Hungarian parties beyond the borders is to represent the interests of Hungarian people who want to prosper in their homeland, Árpád János Potápi, Secretary of State for National Policy of the Prime Minister’s Office, stressed on Saturday in Rijeka, Croatia, at the Carpathian Basin National Policy Round Table.
The meeting was attended by leaders of all Hungarian parties abroad: Hunor Kelemen, President of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania; István Pásztor, President of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (Serbia); László Brenzovics, President of the Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association (Ukraine); Krisztián Forró, President of the Alliance (Slovakia); Róbert Jankovics, President of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Croatia; and Dusan Orban, President of the Hungarian Self-governing Ethnic Community of Pomurje (Slovenia).
In a statement to MTI, State Secretary Árpád János Potápi stressed that three important ideas were formulated jointly with the leaders from abroad. First, that
the most important national policy achievement of the past 13 years has been the strengthening of Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin.
He pointed out that all the processes that had weakened the communities, such as Covid-19 or the war in Ukraine, would have been much more pronounced if they had not united. He mentioned, among other things, the census data, which showed a decline in all border regions and in Hungary. “Without our work, the figures would be far worse,” he emphasized.
As a second idea, he stressed that
the Hungarian parties abroad should be primarily responsible for representing the interests of the Hungarian people who want to prosper in their homeland.
The State Secretary’s words could be interpreted as a small jibe against Hungarian parties abroad that pick up a variety of human rights causes and claim to represent other minorities, while neglecting the interests of Hungarian minorities.
Referring to the third important goal, Potápi said that important elections are coming up in the whole Carpathian Basin, and “we must work together to ensure that Hungarian parties do well in these elections.”
Róbert Jankovics, President of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Croatia, said that they hosted an extremely important national policy roundtable discussion, attended by all leading politicians from Hungarian organizations abroad. He stressed that
in the next one and a half years, there will be ten elections in the countries neighboring Hungary, largely determining the role and fate of the Hungarian communities living there.
“We must prepare for this in the right way”, he stressed.
István Pásztor, President of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, said that there would be at least two, and possibly three, elections in Vojvodina and Serbia, and there would also be the European Parliament elections. In his opinion, every election is a watershed for the condition of the Hungarian community and its ability to assert its interests and rights. “We are interested in everyone being successful, because each other’s success strengthens us all. That was clear, that was also evident in today’s discussion,” he underlined.
Featured photo via MTI/Bruzák Noémi