TRAVEL PLANS GONE AWRY - PRESIDENT SOLYOM'S VISIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUDAPEST 000206

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CE JAMIE LAMORE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/15/2019
TAGS: PREL RM HU
SUBJECT: TRAVEL PLANS GONE AWRY - PRESIDENT SOLYOM'S VISIT
TO ROMANIA

REF: A. 08 BUDAPEST 1216

B. MARTINSON-LAMORE EMAIL MARCH 13

Classified By: Acting P/E Counselor Jon Martinson, reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (U) This is Embassy Budapest/Embassy Bucharest coordinated
cable.


2. (U) Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom, a staunch advocate
of ethnic Hungarians living in neighboring countries, faced
significant diplomatic difficulties while searching for
opportunities to commemorate Hungary's 1848 revolution and
war of independence on March 15.


3. (U) Initially planning to celebrate this important
Hungarian national holiday in Serbia's Voivojdina region,
Solyom altered his schedule after Serbian President Tadic
objected to the planned three-day visit and the Hungarian
organization that had invited Solyom subsequently canceled
the visit. Turning to Romania, Solyom then planned to fly
via a Hungarian military aircraft to the Transylvania city of
Targu Mures (Marosvasarhely) on March 15, to celebrate with
the ethnic Hungarian community. However, on March 12,
Romanian authorities expressed concern via a diplomatic note
to the Hungarian Ambassador in Bucharest that "the visit
would send a wrong signal for bilateral relations" and
canceled flight clearance for the President's aircraft.
(Note. Press reporting states Romanian authorities were
afraid that Solyom would talk about autonomy for ethnic
Hungarians in Transylvania and that "could have had an
adverse impact on incumbent Romanian President Basescu's
campaign for re-election later this year who wants to obtain
the votes of extremists there." End note.) As a result of
the Romanian Government's landing permit revocation, Solyom
traveled to the Transylvania region by car on March 14, laid
a wreath at a memorial site, and returned to Budapest the
same day.


4. (U) While Solyom considered the Romanian's refusal to
grant flight clearance an "unfriendly" action, on March 13,
Hungarian MFA Senior State Secretary Marta Fekszi responded
to a press inquiry, commenting that "it is inexplicable and
we will seek an explanation from the Romanian Ambassador to
Budapest." She stated that "there is no question in my mind
that if a Hungarian citizen wants to visit Romania then he
should be able to."


5. (C) Embassy Bucharest comment: It's unclear whether there
actually was a dip note fro the Romanians to the Hungarians
expressing concern about the visit. UDMR leader Marco Bela
made that claim in press comments, but FM Diaconescu denied
this, and challenged Bela "show me the note". The Romanian
government line, including from Transportation Minister
Berceanu, is that no/no official request for flight clearance
for President Solyom's military aircraft was formally
conveyed to the Romanian side. Media have deplored the
incident as an example of politicians playing the
Hungarian-bashing card to win over voters from the
extreme-right Greater Romania Party (which recently lost its
parliamentary representation in the November elections.)


6. (C) Embassy Budapest comment. During his three and a half
year tenure, President Solyom has spared no effort to
emphatically represent the rights of ethnic Hungarians during
frequent visits to neighboring countries with ethnic
Hungarian populations. Fidesz President Viktor Orban is also
a frequent visitor to the Transylvania region, more recently
in his role as the European Peoples' Party Vice President, to
support the campaign of ethnic Hungarians in the upcoming
European parliament elections later this spring. Since the
political changes of 1990, successive Hungarian governments
continue to wrestle with how best to address the concerns of
ethnic Hungarians "beyond the borders." Most recently,
Slovak/Hungarian relations have made the front pages (ref A),
but the diplomatic fracas over Solyom's visit has the
potential to turn up the heat on what has been relatively
good Romanian/Hungarian cooperation. End Comment.
Foley