I was browsing through today’s Hungarian media offerings when I encountered a strange report in Magyar Nemzet about Timişoara (Temesvár), a Romanian city of about 400,000 inhabitants located in the Banat region. Enikő Gurzó, a Romanian-Hungarian art historian who works at the Museum of Fine Arts in Timişoara, described the city with obvious enthusiasm. Instead of the usual deprecation of the Romanian economic and political situation, the article reported that the “capital” of the Banat region is “the happiest and most youthful city in Romania.” It is regaining its earlier splendor as the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy’s most dynamically developing region. The city’s atmosphere, with its outdoor cafes and restaurants and mild climate, calls to mind cities of Western Europe. Romanian, German, Hungarian, Ukrainian, and Italian can be heard everywhere. Perhaps one reason for Timişoara’s resemblance to cities farther to the west is its diversity and multiculturalism, which appeals to its young inhabitants.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Is this rave review of a Romanian city really appearing in Magyar Nemzet? What’s going on? Then it dawned on me that 30 years ago, on December 15, 1989, the Romanian uprising against the Ceauşescu regime began in Timişoara. The removal order of László Tőkés, a Hungarian Reformed minister, by the bishop of Oradea (Nagyvárad) started the local uprising, which turned into an anti-communist demonstration that couldn’t be contained despite the incredible brutality of the police and the Securitate (secret police). The confrontation between the authorities and the multi-national revolutionaries continued for almost a week. The uprising in Timişoara bore a striking resemblance to Budapest in the last days of October 1956.

Once I realized that the Hungarian government was deeply involved in the celebrations, I searched for what was being planned. First of all, events memorializing the Temesvár uprising will go on for a week. An exhibition called “Temesvár ’89—Hungarian help” opened in Szentes. It highlights Hungarian efforts to help the suffering inhabitants of the city with food and medical supplies. László Kövér, speaker of the house, opened the exhibition. He praised the Romanian, Hungarian, German, and Serbian inhabitants of Timişoara who showed that “freedom is one and indivisible for Romanians as well as for Hungarians.” Of course, he couldn’t refrain from declaring that “because of the post-communist political elite, the freedom and dignity of all people is again in jeopardy in Romania.”

Kövér’s message was at odds with the content of a speech delivered by Viktor Orbán, who opened the week-long celebration in Timişoara today. After praising the Romanian-Hungarian collaboration 30 years ago, he asked whether “we also want to think together about the future? Do the Hungarian and Romanian people have common goals? This is the question. I, as the prime minister of Hungary in the name of the Hungarian nation, can tell you that I see an excellent chance that in the future Romanians and Hungarians may have common goals.” After some boasting about Hungary’s “belonging to the second tier of European countries,” he described the great future awaiting Hungary and added that “we Hungarians think that this goal can be achieved more easily with our neighbors than alone. Therefore, we are ready to build a new Central Europe together with our neighbors, including Romania.” This new Central Europe will be so attractive that people from the West will be standing in line to be employed in these post-communist countries.

What’s going on in Viktor Orbán’s head? Why the sudden urge to expand the scope of Central Europe, of which only Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic (the V-4) had previously been considered member states?

I clearly recall that, only a couple of weeks ago, Marius Lazurca, the Romanian ambassador to Hungary, asserted in the presence of Zsolt Semjén that “Hungary’s so-called Transylvanian economic development program did not proceed by means of official discussions between the two governments, and therefore we repeat that Romania has not given its consent to the implementation of these measures. We urge that the program be implemented only with the involvement of the Romanian authorities, in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner.” The program, which until now had been restricted to the Szekler region, was to be, according to Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, expanded to “the whole western part of Romania,” by which I assume he means the Partium. The embarrassing part of this revelation by the Romanian ambassador is that the Hungarian government had falsely claimed that it had received the blessing of Bucharest for the project.

It looks as if the new right-of-center Ludovic Orban government might be less than enthusiastic about Hungary’s economic expansion into the western half of Romania. Budapest’s plan is to spend 300 million euros over the next two years, including state subsidies, self-financing, and credit, to assist Hungarian businesses and farmers in Romania. Between 2016 and 2019, about 367 million euros went to 44,000 Hungarian-Romanian households. But it seems that without the Romanian Orban, the Hungarian Orbán’s ambitious program in Romania cannot be realized. And the Romanian Orban is not especially fond of his Hungarian counterpart. Earlier he described himself as the “good” Orban because of their contrasting ideologies.

I should also note, while we’re on the subject of neighborly relations, that Hungary is trying to tamp down the irredentist sentiment that is likely to accompany the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon. According to a recent news item, Zsolt Semjén, in the company of close associates, warned that the anniversary should not be overemphasized. “We mustn’t talk about the topic over and above a certain level.” He warned against chauvinistic impulses that “might hurt Hungarians across the border.” In brief, there seems to be a recognition that “the unification of the nation across borders” might have given rise to ill feelings in the neighboring countries, especially in Romania and Ukraine where the Hungarian government concentrated its economic penetration.

I doubt that Ludovic Orban wants to follow Viktor Orbán’s lead into the Central European land of milk and honey. In fact, according to analysts, he wants to return his country to the European Union mainstream. Thus, Viktor Orbán’s siren call in Timişoara will most likely be ignored in Bucharest.

December 14, 2019