Pole and Hungarian, two good friends... not anymore?
08 January 2025
Not so long ago, Poland and Hungary used to be great friends. But those days are numbered. The relations between the once-close-knit EU-troublemakers deteriorated further last week when the Polish government announced that the Hungarian Ambassador wasn't welcome at the opening event of the Polish EU presidency. The decision, called "pathetic and childish" by the Hungarian foreign ministry, came after Budapest granted political asylum to Marcin Romanowski, the deputy justice minister of the former Polish government, who allegedly mismanaged public funds back home during his time in office.
Charges against him include embezzlement, abuse of authority and alleged participation in an organised crime group, for which Romanowski could face up to 25 years in prison. In response to Hungary granting him political asylum, Polish authorities issued a European arrest warrant to take him to court.
Hungary has harboured controversial political figures before. Nikola Gruevski, ex-Macedonian PM, sentenced to several years in prison for corruption and money laundering by Skopje courts, was also granted political asylum by Budapest. More famously, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro hid at the Hungarian Embassy after the unrest that followed the 2022 presidential election but has now been brought to justice.
 | Fruzsina Szikszai and Aleksandra Twardowska Poland taking over the EU presidency from Hungary marks a striking shift given that both countries were, just a few years ago, central to EU concerns about democratic backsliding and challenges to the Union's legitimacy. While Hungary, with Orbán as a leader, remains the EU's problematic player, Poland's current PM and a former president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, is well-regarded in Brussels. He is positioning himself as the anti-Orbán: a leader committed to restoring democratic values and presenting a firm anti-Kremlin stance in response to the war at the EU's borders. |
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