After banning Hungarian diplomats from attending Romanian commemorations of the union of Transylvania with the Romanian Kingdom in 1918, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Hungarians have nothing to celebrate on December 1. “It would be strange were Hungarian diplomats or foreign ministry officials to attend Romanian national events on this day,” Szijjártó said. Sure enough, the usual suspects started to run their mouths preaching about good neighbours, how we should all be friends and how Szijjártó caused irreparable harm to the relation of the two countries. In case you don’t know what this is all about, here’s a quick recap of what happened nearly 100 years ago. Part of Transylvania south of the Mures river and east of the Somes river came under the control of Romania (cease-fire agreement of Belgrade signed on 13 November 1918) at the end of World War I. On 1 December 1918, the National Assembly of Romanians in Transylvania declared union with the Kingdom of Romania, which was later essentially verified by the Treaty of Trianon. So Romania got a big chunk of what used to be the Kingdom of Hungary and now they are inviting Hungarians to celebrate that. It’s as if I’d fire you then invite you back to the Christmas party to celebrate how good things are going without you. You’d probably tell me to shove it. I’m not a revisionist. I do think that with the European Union, Hungary’s main goal should be to achieve proper representation and fair treatment of Hungarian minorities outside our borders. But to go to a celebration and clap for losing a huge part of the country? I’m amazed Szijjártó didn’t have to issue a ban on giving the finger when the invitations were received by Hungarian diplomats. With that happy thought we wish you a merry Christmas and a successful New Year. The Budapest Times will be back in the second week of January.
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