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Diplomatic row with Romania over the Szekler flag

Friday, January 19th, 2018

A left-wing commentator explains that the Prime Minister of Romania resigned for reasons unconnected to the Hungarian protest against his statement on the Szekler flag. READ MORE

Repercussions of the Romanian protests

Wednesday, February 8th, 2017

A left-wing and a conservative commentator find it sad that Hungarians do not seem to be bothered by corruption as much as the Romanian public. An alt-left blogger, on the other hand, thinks that the Romanian protests are not all about corruption and may have dire and unintended consequences. READ MORE

Hungarian party gets into Romanian Parliament

Wednesday, December 14th, 2016

Commenting on the Romanian elections, conservative columnists welcome the good performance of the Hungarian alliance and ponder the implications for Hungarian minority representation in Transylvania. READ MORE

Diplomatic row over Romania’s national holiday

Wednesday, December 7th, 2016

Commentators disagree on whether the Foreign Minister was right to ban his diplomats from attending the commemoration ceremony of the Romanian Embassy in Budapest on Romania’s National Holiday that symbolises the transfer of Transylvania from Hungary to Romania in 1918, after World War I. READ MORE

Diplomatic scuffles with Romania

Friday, August 14th, 2015

A left-wing commentator criticises Hungary’s ambassador to Bucharest, who expressed dissatisfaction with the policies of the Romanian government towards ethnic Hungarians in Romania. READ MORE

Ethnic Hungarian vote helped elect Romania’s German president

Tuesday, November 18th, 2014

A conservative analyst argues that the election of an ethnic German and a Protestant as president of Romania is a great novelty for ethnic Hungarians who have often felt being considered by the majority as a secessionist threat. READ MORE

Prospects of Central European regional partnership

Friday, July 4th, 2014

As Hungary passes the rotating presidency of the Visegrád 4 cooperation scheme to Slovakia, a conservative columnist finds it disappointing that the V4 group has mostly failed to create a close Central European regional partnership. Another right-wing pundit and his left-wing counterpart, however, believe that the Orbán government is doing its best to improve its ties with neighbouring states, although it does not always succeed. READ MORE

Tőkés’s aide suggests moderate approach towards Szekler autonomy

Friday, September 27th, 2013

A Transylvanian columnist questions the wisdom of pushing too hard for Szekler autonomy as this could harm other minority Hungarians in Romania. READ MORE

Romania 3, Hungary 0 – the political overtones

Monday, September 9th, 2013

A pro-government paper criticizes The New York Times for overemphasizing the tension caused by extremist Hungarian fans, or ultras, without reporting on similar incidents on the Romanian side. The leading left-wing Hungarian daily reminds readers that no one outside Hungary expected the national team to win and the government was rather late in warning Hungarian fans to abstain from wrongdoing. A transborder Hungarian writer describes how harmful the ultra’s behaviour will be for Hungarians in Transylvania. READ MORE

Romanian-Hungarian relations at record low

Monday, August 19th, 2013

A left-wing analyst says the protagonists of last week’s angry exchanges all need the conflict to boost their own political plans, but transborder Hungarians in Romania are the ones who will suffer. A liberal columnist, on the other hand, criticizes MSZP leader Attila Mesterházy for reacting to Băsescu’s statement with outrage instead of regarding it as a criticism aimed at PM Orbán. A centre-right columnist from Romania finds it strange that other transborder Hungarians, such as the Hungarians of Slovakia, are much less concerned with their own minority status than Hungarians in Transylvania. READ MORE