Hungarian Ambassador “Not Welcome” at Poland’s EU Presidency Event

L-R: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the first summit of the European Nuclear Association in Brussels on March 21, 2024

Polish Deputy Prime Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka told TVP Info on Friday that the Hungarian ambassador to Warsaw was not welcome at the opening of Poland’s EU presidency because of the asylum granted to former Polish Deputy Minister of Justice Marcin Romanowski in Hungary.

Last Thursday, Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka told the Polsat News commercial news channel that EU member states, including Hungary, would be represented at the opening ceremony on Friday evening by ambassadors. However, she later added that Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski had indicated in a diplomatic note to the Hungarian ambassador, István Íjgyártó, saying that he was “not welcome” at the venue. According to reports, Polish politicians were waiting to see whether a lower-ranking representative of the embassy would appear.

❗️”Pathetic and childish—those are the only words I can use to describe this decision.” With these strong words, FM Szijjártó condemned @sikorskiradek‘s move to exclude Hungary’s ambassador from the opening of Poland’s EU presidency. pic.twitter.com/h7xSgcm8xV

— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) January 3, 2025

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó reacted to the incident, saying that two terms are competitive in connection with the decision of his Polish counterpart: pathetic and childish,

the Ministry told MTI.

The Hungarian ambassador to Warsaw was not welcome at the opening of Poland’s EU presidency because of the asylum granted to former Polish Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski (member of Polish opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) in Hungary, Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka told TVP Info on Friday. Romanowski was accused of 18 counts of criminal offenses in Poland, including participation in a criminal organization damaging state property, in the Justice Fund case he oversaw during the PiS government. Romanowski considers the prosecution proceedings against him to be illegal and the decision of the Sejm (Polish Parliament) to waive his parliamentary immunity to be invalid.

The Polish opposition criticized the government’s decision. PiS faction leader Mariusz Blaszczak, former Deputy Prime Minister and National Defense Minister, reacted to the foreign affairs’ move in a guest article in Hungarian news paper Mandiner. He wrote, that cooperation has always been good with Hungary, but now Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has decided to destroy these relations. “This is harmful for our country. Hungary is handing over to Poland the rotating presidency of the European Union, and we must treat this moment as a celebration, as a symbol of Polish-Hungarian cooperation within the European Union and as an opportunity for our region.

There is no objective reason to denigrate Poland’s Hungarian friends”,

he highlighted.

Moja rozmowa z Mandiner, największym prawicowym portalem i tygodnikiem na Węgrzech.

„Przyjaźń polsko-węgierska to nasz skarb. Współpraca z Węgrami zawsze przebiegała bardzo dobrze. Ale jak widzimy, Donald Tusk postanowił te relacje zniszczyć.(…) Jestem bardzo wdzięczny… https://t.co/kenAp4dGNZ

— Mariusz Błaszczak (@mblaszczak) January 5, 2025

The politician also noted that the informal summit of EU heads of state and government was not announced as part of the official program of the presidency in Poland. Donald Tusk “has perhaps decided not to have a summit in Poland? Why?” asked Blaszczak. He added that it was because President Andrzej Duda (elected as a PiS candidate) would then receive foreign guests.

The Polish government is acting in a way that “harms the interests of the state and makes the country look ridiculous” in the affairs of the presidency,

Blaszczak reminded.

The cancellation of the summit in Poland was also criticized in a press conference in the countryside on Friday by Mateusz Morawiecki, PiS vice-president and former Polish Prime Minister. Tusk has thus “deprived himself of real influence on the EU situation”, Morawiecki said. He called on the current Prime Minister to seek to hold the summit in Poland.

On Friday afternoon, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna told Polsat News TV that President Andrzej Duda would not be present at the ceremony, but he did not know the reason. According to Hungarian news portal 24.hu, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was not invited to the opening ceremony either.

Poland officially took over the EU presidency on 1 January, during which 22 informal meetings at ministerial level are planned. The opening ceremony, held at the National Theater in Warsaw on Friday evening, was attended by Antonia Costa, President of the European Council.

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