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The PNL (National Liberal Party) leader, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, on Tuesday evening said that he is waiting for a meeting of the governing coalition to clarify the entire issue related to the speech of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban.
The journalists asked PM Nicolae Ciuca to comment on the statements made by the president of the UDMR (Democratic Union of Hungarians of Romania), Kelemen Hunor, in response to President Klaus Iohannis' demand for for clarifications from the Union.
"None of us should give applause for such explanations. (...) I reiterate that Romania is known for its openness to everything that cultural, religious, ethnic tolerance means. Until this moment, we have built our country in such a manner that allows us to enjoy the values of the European Union mean," said Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca.
He also stated that he did not meet with Kelemen Hunor to discuss this topic.
"I haven't manage to meet Mr. Chairman Kelemen Hunor. And this is not the kind of topic that I would discuss over the phone. As we discussed with the other members of the coalition, we are waiting now to have a coalition meeting to clarify on this topic," said Nicolae Ciuca, at the headquarters of the PNL, after a meeting of the leadership of the Liberals.
At the same time, the PNL leader was asked by journalists if there was a possibility to determine UDMR to leave the government because of these statements made by Kelemen Hunor. "Please allow this meeting to take place, to have clarifications. It is clear that such rhetorical and even ideological slippages are wrong in such a sensitive context," Nicolae Ciuca replied.
President Klaus Iohannis stated on Friday that there is a need for public clarifications from the UDMR in the context of the speech given in Romania by the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, but also for a clarifying discussion within the coalition.
"I think that there is a need for public clarifications from the UDMR, because a significant part of the leadership and membership of the UDMR was present at that event. They will have to explain if they agreed with the content of that speech that they applauded, which would be extremely complicated, or if they didn't understand what they were talking about and just generically applauded the person who gave a speech. Whatever the explanation, we need to hear it, and I think there has to be a clarifying discussion including in the governing coalition," said the head of state, at the Cotroceni Palace, at the joint press conference he had with his counterpart from the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu.
According to Iohannis, "no one in Romania wants to cause a governmental crisis because a high-ranking foreign dignitary gave an erroneous speech.
The Chairman of UDMR (Democratic Union of Hungarians of Romania), Deputy Prime Minister Kelemen Hunor, on Friday told AGERPRES that there should be no discussion about a crisis facing the governing coalition, because the Union has fulfilled all its obligations so far assumed with its partners, adding that the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, did not speak at all in Tusnad about Romania and the authorities in Bucharest, Agerpres.
Kelemen Hunor reiterated the "extremely clear" position of the UDMR condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
According to the leader of the UDMR, there have been and there will probably be in the future, too, disputes in the European Union, but this does not concern the governing coalition, its cohesion.
"I saw that many said: "UDMR must be removed from the government." But why? If we were talking about our own statements, our action or inaction in the Government, about how we observed the governing programme, the agreement the coalition is based on and the interests of the Government and of the country, yes, ok. We can look for sanctions, we can look for all sorts of issues related to the functioning, to the improvement of the coalition, but this is not the case. Yes, let's have a discussion, we have nothing against it, when someone brings up the topic at a future meeting of the coalition, we can discuss this. It is an important topic, I understand, but no one can say at this points that the UDMR or the leaders of the Union failed to respect the partners in the coalition, failed to respect the agreement in the coalition, the governing programme or acted against the general and specific interests of Romania. That cannot be said," claimed Kelemen Hunor.
Kelemen Hunor mentioned that "Viktor Orban brought some additional clarifications, in Vienna, to his speech in Tusnad, specifying that he condemns racism and that his statement was presented in a different way than intended, and that probably that wrong sentence, interpretable, was taken out of context and it was reinterpreted."
Regarding the applause received by Orban, the UDMR leader said that no one could prevent those present at the event in Baile Tusnad, many of whom came out of curiosity, to applaud out of respect, politeness or for other reasons.
