Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has rejected the request of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to participate in building a „new Central Europe“ against Western Europe. „This is an approach that I will not support,“ said Iohannis in Bucharest today.
„I am committed to the European Union and to no other entity that would be created at a lower level.“ There is already a break between East and West in Europe, he will never take part in creating „new breaks“, said the head of state.
Response to Orban’s speech
Iohannis reacted to the speech of the right-wing national Orban last Saturday in Timisoara in western Romania. Orban had emphasized that Romania and Hungary, together with Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, should create a „new Central Europe“ to assert themselves against Western Europe. It is about Central Europe becoming competitive, no longer belonging to the „second line“ in Europe and no longer remaining merely an economic „supplier“ to Western Europe.
Iohannis is close to the ruling bourgeois National Liberal Party (PNL), which, like Orban’s FIDESZ party, is a member of the European People’s Party (EPP). Fidesz’s membership in the EPP was put on hold until further notice due to Orban’s anti-EU propaganda. Hungary, together with Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, forms the Visegrad group.
