George Simion, Romania’s nationalist leader and frontrunner in a presidential runoff isn’t a “Christian or a sovereigntist” but “anti-Hungarian with every fiber of his body”, a government coalition leader said Sunday.
“He built his career and the AUR political party on the national stage on the graves of our grandparents,” said Kelemen Hunor, the head of the UDMR party which represents the interests of 1.2 million ethnic Hungarians and is part of the coalition government.
His comments came after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban appeared to praise Simion for his nationalist policies. On Saturday, Orban seemed to withdraw that support and change his stance to saying the survival of the Hungarian community in Romania was paramount.
“The presidential elections in Romania have never been so much about Hungarians as they are now,” Hunor said on a Facebook post. Simion is “first and foremost anti-Hungarian” and “this is the belief that nourished him”.
“He built his career attacking the Uz Valley military cemetery on the graves of our grandparents. He filed hundreds of lawsuits against our mother tongue, flags and symbols and attacked Hungarian schools. No, he is not a sovereignist, nor is he a Christian. He is anti-Hungarian with every nerve, every fiber of his being. We know better than anyone who Simion is,” he added.
He recalled an incident at the cemetery in 2019 when hundreds of Romanians including Simion broke into the international military cemetery and vandalized several Hungarian graves, made anti-Hungarian statements and threw stones at Hungarians..
“We were there at the cemetery, not anyone else. We faced lawsuits in the Romanian courts against our symbols, not anyone else. We were there in Parliament when he threatened us with violence, us, not anyone else. We know exactly what kind of danger George Simion represents.
At the time, Attila Korodi, a Romanian MP (from the ethnic Hungarian community) told Euronews: “Romanian people arrived equipped with Romanian flags, mainly radical football ultras. They were spitting, throwing stones, fighting with the police. And they broke the gate after getting into the cemetery by the back door”, he added.
The Úz Valley holds the bodies of fallen soldiers from WWI and WWII and was established by Austrians and Hungarians in 1917, the year before Transylvania was ceded to Romania. It belongs to the majority Hungarian Transylvanian village of Sânmartin Ciuc.
“I ask everyone to say STOP Simion as one on May 18. Let’s support (pro-European centrist mayor) Nicuşor Dan with our vote. Let’s go to vote. Because this is our future!”, Hunor said.
His comments came after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban spoke with Hunor and said Budapest does not want to meddle in Romanian presidential elections in Romania”, after previous Orban statements were perceived as being in favor of Simion.
“This afternoon, I had a telephone conversation with Kelemen Hunor… I told him clearly: we do not want to influence the presidential elections in Romania in any way,” Viktor Orban wrote.
Romania holds a contentious runoff on May 18 between Simion and Dan where it will choose to remain on a pro-European path or pursue an independent Euroskeptic line.
“The Hungarian government considers that Hunor’s party’s position is decisive, and in matters of Romanian national politics, the interests of the Hungarians in Transylvania are the guiding principle,” Orban added, following statements he made where he praised the sovereigntist policies of Simion.
“We are collaborating with leaders in Romania to promote the … survival of Hungarians in Transylvania,” Viktor Orban ended.
