Hungary has a vested interest in having strong and successful neighbours, Gergely Gulyás, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office said at a stage discussion held on Monday as part of the Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) Hungarian Days.

Mr Gulyás said Hungary would be pleased to see the whole of the Central European region gain in strength. He highlighted that in internal political battles usually those are most likely to play the Hungarian card who are not strong enough to forge political capital for themselves from their own achievements.

He said it does not favour Hungary that it is compelled to negotiate not with the leaders of strong countries increasingly gaining in strength, but “with the leaders of countries struggling with permanent internal crises and sovereignty problems”. However, in his view, this must not change the objectives of Hungary’s nation policy concerning Hungarian communities beyond the borders. The Minister said it is the duty of the Hungarian government to support good initiatives beyond the borders.

The government can only support the Kolozsvár Hungarian Days event which began on Sunday, but would not be able to organise it. It is always up to the organisers whether they are able to furnish events such as this with some added intellectual and spiritual value, the politician said.

At the press discussion held after the forum, Mr Gulyás said in answer to a question of the Hungarian news agency MTI that he is not aware that Romania has changed its position regarding the favourable reception of the extension of the Hungarian economic development programme to Transylvania. He added that it is a reaslitic expectation that they can start the economic development programme at the beginning of 2019.

He took the view that it will be one of the important tasks of the Romanian EU Presidency in the first half of 2019 to ensure smooth operations during a period when the course of politics will be determined by the upcoming European parliamentary elections.

Hungary is always happy when the Presidency is held by any of the countries which have recently joined the EU, Mr Gulyás said. He added, however, that during the period leading to the EP elections it will only be possible to achieve less than usual as everyone will focus on the elections.

(MTI)