By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
WARSAW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Poland has “permanently withdrawn” its ambassador to Hungary because its government committed a “hostile act” by granting asylum to an ex-Polish deputy minister facing corruption charges, Poland’s foreign ministry announced.
Relations between the two European Union and NATO military alliance members, long considered close allies, have rapidly deteriorated since Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-EU coalition came to power in 2023.
He replaced the government led by the nationalist conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, a close ally of right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
“Poland’s ambassador to Hungary completed his mission on July 15. The reason was communicated when the decision was taken to summon the ambassador for consultations” last year, the Polish foreign ministry said.
“That was the hostile act against Poland of granting political asylum to former deputy minister Marcin Romanowski, who is wanted for criminal offences,” it added.
Poland recalled its envoy in December and summoned Hungary’s ambassador after Budapest announced Romanowski’s refugee status. Romanowski is a lawmaker from the PiS party and former deputy justice minister.
Charges against him include participation in an organised crime group and the attempted embezzlement of almost 40 million euros ($46.7 million) from a fund for crime victims, which he supervised.
NO WRONGDOING?
In a recent interview, he denied wrongdoing and said he would not call fleeing to Hungary an escape. “I am not fleeing from justice; I am defending myself—and many Poles—from injustice,” he was quoted as saying by the Hungarian news site Hungary Today.
Romanowski disappeared in December after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) revoked his immunity and a court ordered his arrest.
Hungary granted him asylum, saying his “legal case is not guaranteed to be dealt with impartially and free from political influence in their home country beyond a reasonable doubt.”
This wasn’t the first time Hungary gave asylum to controversial figures: In 2018, it confirmed that the ex-prime minister of Macedonia claimed political asylum after fleeing a prison sentence for corruption. Nikola Gruevski arrived in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, in 2018 and was later spotted by a Worthy News reporter in a Budapest bar known for jazzy and traditional music.
However, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Hungary has “a vested” interest in good cooperation with Poland, despite political disagreements. He added that it seemed “the current Warsaw leadership doesn’t have such an interest.”
Szijjártó accused Poland’s current government of being “pro-war,” referring to Polish support for Ukraine in its ongoing battle against invading troops from Russia. Hungary, seen by EU leaders as having one of the most pro-Moscow governments, is “pro-peace,” the minister added.
“We think cooperation between the two countries should consist of more than what we think about the war, but the Polish government can not see past it,” Szijjártó said.
FREEZING RELATIONS
Reporters also asked Minister Szijjártó about Hungary’s relationship with Armenia and suggested that the Hungarian government should “apologise” to Armenia for its controversial policies.
Armenia’s former leadership froze diplomatic relations with Hungary in 2012 after Orbán’s government repatriated an Azerbaijani army officer who hacked to death a sleeping Armenian colleague in Budapest during a NATO course in 2004.
The current Armenian government decided to restore diplomatic ties in 2022, even though Hungary never apologized for the officer’s release and continued to support Azerbaijan.
Hungary, which has close ties with Azerbaijan, also effectively admitted to blocking the European Union from an additional 20 million euros ($22 million) in “non-lethal” military aid to Armenia through its European Peace Facility (EPF).
It must receive unanimous support from all of the EU’s 27 member states to be approved. Yet the Hungarian government says it supports persecuted Christians, including Armenians. “Why should we apologise to Armenia? Because we successfully lobbied in Azerbaijan and managed to take five prisoners of war home [to Armenia]?” Szijjártó wondered.
He referred to ongoing tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagorno‑Karabakh. The 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno‑Karabakh forced virtually the entire Armenian population of up to 120,000 people to flee the region.
However, Szijjártó said Hungary has been supporting Armenian families and offering “grants to Armenian students” in Hungary. He said Hungarian-Armenian ties were the best in decades as “myself and my Armenian colleague have worked a lot on that … we are opening an embassy in Yerevan; they are opening one here.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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