Transylvanian MEP Confronts President Iohannis in EU Parliament
Romanian President Greeted in Hungarian by MEP in European Parliament
Loránt Vincze, MEP of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), stirred up controversy during the session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday when he greeted the Romanian President in Hungarian. According to the Cluj news portal Chronicle, Vincze used the Hungarian language to wish Romanian President Klaus Iohannis a good day during the “This is Europe” debate.
The greeting in Hungarian, which was meant as a political statement, was followed by a confrontation in which Vincze accused Iohannis of using the Hungarian language as a political tool in the past. “This greeting in Hungarian is now understood by all Romanian citizens, not because the majority would have started to learn the language of the minority, but because you used the Hungarian language as a political tool against your political opponents in 2020,” said Vincze in front of the plenary.
The RMDSZ MEP criticized Iohannis for not reacting to the Hungarian community’s proposal for a pact between the majority and minority since he took office. He also pointed out that successful models for the protection of minorities in EU member states could not even be discussed in Bucharest and warned about the increasing extremism in Romania.
This incident stems from a previous controversy in which Iohannis had made comments that were perceived as discriminatory towards the Hungarian community. After the House of Representatives in Bucharest had tacitly approved the draft State of Autonomy for Szeklerland (Székelyföld), Iohannis accused the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD) of helping the RMDSZ to get the proposal through the House of Representatives. He even went as far as to accuse the PSD of having struck a deal with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to annex Transylvania.
Iohannis’s comments were deemed as hate speech by the National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD), and he was initially fined for discrimination and violating the right to dignity on ethnic/national grounds. However, the Supreme Court in Bucharest overturned the fine in November 2022 after Iohannis appealed.
The incident in the European Parliament highlights the ongoing tensions between the Hungarian minority and the Romanian majority, as well as the broader issue of minority rights in Romania. It also brings attention to the potential consequences of using language and identity as political tools in a diverse and multicultural society.
