“We expect more respect from those Croatian politicians who in recent days have been criticising Hungary and spreading fake news with relation to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s State Secretary wrote on his social media page on Tuesday.

State Secretary for Information and the International Representation of Hungary Tamás Menczer wrote: “Hungary’s is making a significant contribution to the success of the Croatian economy”.

To corroborate this, he cited the fact that in 2019, 644 thousand Hungarian tourists spent 3.2 million guests nights in Croatia, Hungarian energy company MOL “has just completed its largest ever development project, in Croatia”, and Hungarian Electricity Works (MVM) “will be purchasing 6.75 billion cubic metres of natural gas from the Croatian LNG terminal on the Island of Krk”. “Taking all this into account, we expect more respect from Croatian politicians who are voicing unfounded criticisms of Hungary and spreading fake news”, Mr. Menczer said.

The State Secretary also noted that “it is particularly difficult to understand such behaviour at a time when negotiations are underway on the reopening of the border, which are extremely important from the perspective of Croatia’s summer tourist season”.

In the background of the affair is the fact that a video of the Trianon commemoration in Sátoraljaújhely was published on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Facebook profile, including the newly unveiled memorial with the inscription: “Fiume – Hungarians, To the Sea!”. The Croatian press mistranslated the expression as “Hungarian sea”, calling it a provocation. The Croatian Foreign Minister said it will be requesting an official explanation for the commemorative plaque from the Hungarian embassy in Zagreb.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)