Lazar in Romania: Ethnic Hungarians ‘strategic partners’

Written by BT/MTI

“Hungarians in north-western Romania are our strategic partners for the future,” the minister of construction and transport said in Oradea (Nagyvarad) on Thursday.

Janos Lazar said at a press conference held jointly with Romanian senator Attila Cseke, the head of the local chapter of the ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party, that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán planned to visit the region in early June and participate in its campaign ahead of the June 9 European parliamentary election.

He said the prime ministerial visit would demonstrate that “not only Transylvanian Hungarians but those in the Partium region can rely on the Hungarian government’s cooperation and support.”

The minister said he would strive to put Romania’s Schengen accession high on the agenda of the upcoming Hungarian presidency of the European Union. “It is a high priority for us to eliminate the Schengen border between Hungary and Romania,” he said, adding that doing so would serve “social, economic, and national interests at the same time.”

Lazar is scheduled to attend an economic forum in the afternoon, focusing on opportunities for cooperation between areas on either side of the Hungarian-Romanian border.