Infuriated with Hungarian government, Poland definitively recalls its ambassador from Budapest

"Poland has definitively recalled its ambassador to Hungary, thereby officially downgrading the level of bilateral diplomatic relations," State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade Levente Magyar announced on his Facebook page.

According to an article in 444, in December, after Marcin Romanowski, a former deputy minister fleeing the Polish justice system was granted political asylum in Hungary, Poland first recalled its ambassador for an indefinite period. At the time, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski described the Hungarian move as unfriendly. Poland also issued a formal objection, which was presented to the Hungarian ambassador in Warsaw, who had been summoned to the Polish Foreign Ministry. In addition, Poland's ambassador to Hungary, Sebastian Kęciek, was also recalled for consultations. In diplomacy, both gestures are a strong sign of outrage, as we wrote at the time.

According to Levente Magyar, it was the gradual deterioration of political relations between the two countries that ultimately led to the recalling of the Polish ambassador, which he considers unprecedented in the history of Hungary's relations with Central European partners.

"We nevertheless consider this to be a temporary situation that will not mar the historic friendship between Hungarians and Poles. This was the message I conveyed to Jacek Śladewski, chargé d'affaires at the Polish Embassy, this morning," the deputy of Péter Szijjártó said. He vowed that despite the current political disputes, the Hungarian government is ready to maintain dialogue, “in preparation for better times ahead in the alliance between our countries.”

We have previously reported in detail on the case of Polish politician Marcin Romanowski and the deterioration of Hungarian-Polish relations. The former Polish deputy minister, who fled to Hungary, now lives in an apartment in Budapest's first district, near the Danube, and has been hired by the Center for Fundamental Rights as the head of the Hungarian-Polish Freedom Institute. He faces several serious criminal charges in his home country. According to the Polish National Prosecutor's Office, the politician committed eleven different crimes and is, among others, accused of participating in an organized criminal group and embezzling public funds. The Hungarian government, however, believes that Romanowski would not receive a fair trial in Poland.