WARSAW, JAN 05 (DNA) — Poland said it barred Hungary’s ambassador from the opening gala of its EU presidency because of a diplomatic spat over a former minister, a decision Hungary called branded “childish”. The row over a Polish lawmaker who fled to Hungary to escape corruption charges cast a shadow over the event to mark the handing of stewardship of the bloc from Hungary’s nationalist government to Poland’s pro-European leadership.
In December, Hungary gave refugee status to Polish lawmaker Marcin Romanowski who had served as deputy justice minister in the previous right-wing government led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party. Facing corruption charges and an arrest warrant, Romanowski had fled Poland for Hungary, which is governed by PiS ally Viktor Orban, and was granted political asylum there. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called that move a “hostile act”.
“Following the situation around Romanowski, Minister Sikorski sent a note to the Hungarian ambassador saying he was not a welcome guest” at the gala to launch Warsaw’s presidency of the European Union, Poland’s deputy European affairs minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka told the state broadcaster TVP.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto called the decision “pathetic and childish”, in a statement sent to media. The gala to mark Poland’s holding of the six-month rotating EU presidency — under the slogan “Security, Europe!” — took place on Friday evening in Warsaw. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and European Council President Antonio Costa delivered speeches at the event.
Tusk stressed how important “security, competitiveness, innovation, imagination, courage (and) good leadership” were for Europe.”We know that these are all our sources of strength,” he added. “If Europe is weak, it will not survive,” Tusk warned. —DNA
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