Croatia has summoned Hungary’s ambassador to Zagreb over Orbán’s statement

Hungary’s ambassador to Zagreb has been summoned to the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dr. Csaba Demcsák was asked to explain Viktor Orbán’s statement from last Friday saying that “If it had not been taken away from us, Hungary would also have a sea”. (Referring to the port of Rijeka in today’s Croatia, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy between 1868-1918, and which Hungary lost as part of the Treaty of Trianon at the end of the 1st World War.)

In his interview given to state radio, Orbán said that the oil embargo on Russian oil proposed by the European Commission is unacceptable, and would be “tantamount to a nuclear bomb thrown at the Hungarian economy”. “Naturally, those who have a sea and ports are able to bring oil on ships from anywhere in the world. But not all countries have a coast – we would have one if it had not been taken away from us, but right now, we don’t. Because of this, Hungary is only able to get oil from Russia or anywhere else via pipelines. One end of this line is in Russia, the other end is in Hungary.” – Orbán said.

The Croatian Foreign Ministry said that such statements are unnecessarily damaging to the good relationship between the two countries. “Croatia condemns the Hungarian Prime Minister’s statement. We condemn any territorial demands between neighboring countries.” – the statement says.

Tamás Menczer, Hungary’s State Secretary for Information and International Communication at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted on his Facebook page by saying that the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs misunderstood Orbán’s words: “The Prime Minister was simply referring to a historical fact. We hope that our Croatian friends will not fall for the hysteria-mongering of the press, and we can continue our work of developing the cooperation between our two countries” – Menczer wrote.

(MTI)