Addressing a conference marking the Day of Szekler Freedom, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said the Hungarian government professes the principle of the “unified Hungarian nation” and “bears responsibility for each and every Hungarian”.
According to MTI, Gulyás noted Hungary’s law on preferential dual citizenship for ethnic Hungarians, as one of the first pieces of legislation the Fidesz-Christian Democrat parties proposed in 2010. “Thanks to that law, there are 1.1 million ‘new’ Hungarian citizens living all over the world,” he said, adding that dual citizenship had created a bond between the state of Hungary and Hungarians “whether they live in the mother country or beyond”. He also noted that some 20-25% of all Hungarians lived in communities outside Hungary. Concerning differences between those communities, he said Transcarpathian Hungarians were in the most difficult situation, adding that the greatest support should go to those people who stayed in their homeland despite the war in their country.
Gulyás highlighted Hungary’s ties with Serbia, and said “relations have fundamentally changed, turning an adversarial relationship burdened by mutual, historical grievances into friendship”. He added that the incumbent Serbian government’s approach to the Hungarian minority was “better than at any time since the Trianon Peace Treaty” of 1920. He said the Hungarian minority’s situation in Romania was “difficult”, adding that Romania’s “resistance against Hungarian national symbols has not ceased to exist”. Concerning Slovakian Hungarians, Gulyás said he hoped that a recently established election alliance could again ensure ethnic Hungarians’ presence in the Slovak parliament. Hungary will provide every assistance to all Hungarian communities beyond the borders, he added.
Concerning the war in Ukraine, he said Hungary should “stay on the grounds of common sense and remember who the attacker is and who the attacked is, and do everything to prevent a regional conflict from spreading to Europe.” It is crucial that “the war is kept outside the borders and NATO does not get involved”, he said. The Hungarian government demands that international law be observed and respects the right of each country “both to self-defence and territorial integrity”, he said. It is in the interest of Hungary and the whole of Europe for there to be “a ceasefire and peace as soon as possible,” he added. Once there is peace, “we may return to the mid-2010s when it seemed that economic growth and development had no external constraints,” he said. Answering a question, Gulyás said, “the issue of introducing the euro could be on the agenda in 5 or 6 years if we are doing very well”. He said such a move would require meeting 90% of the average economic level of the bloc, adding that “currently we are at 75-76%”.