There is a real diplomatic crisis underway between Poland and Hungary, an unusual event to say the least between two countries that are both part of the European Union. The crisis erupted after Budapest decided to grant political asylum to a former member of the Warsaw government, on trial for several crimes including embezzlement of tens of millions of euros. This is the former Polish deputy justice minister, Marcin Romanowski, a member of the nationalist opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party.
“Hostile Act”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, announced the move late yesterday (Thursday 19 December), accusing the Polish government of persecuting its political opponents. Gulyas said there was “concrete evidence of the lack of a fair trial” for Romanowski, pointing out that earlier this year the politician was detained and indicted by Polish prosecutors despite enjoying immunity as a member of the Assembly member of the Council of Europe (PACE).
Poland called the decision a “hostile act” contrary to the principles of the European Union and summoned the Hungarian ambassador and handed him a formal note of protest. The government said that if Hungary does not comply with its European obligations, Poland will ask the European Commission to initiate proceedings against it. The Foreign Ministry also recalled its ambassador to Hungary. “There will not be a Polish ambassador in Budapest because he will be in permanent consultation in Warsaw,” a ministry spokesperson explained.
“Orban like Lukashenko”
Romanowski, who denies the charges, had been detained as part of an investigation into the misuse of public funds but was released in July after the PACE president ruled that the politician enjoyed immunity as a member of the ‘body.
“I did not expect that those who escape justice, corrupt officials, could choose between Lukashenko and Orban to seek refuge from justice,” attacked the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, comparing the Hungarian Prime Minister to the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. “It is no coincidence that those who stole, the corrupt, seek refuge in countries governed by politicians similar to them,” Tusk added.
The accusations
The Polish prosecutor’s office accuses Romanowski, who from 2019 to 2023 was responsible for supervising a fund for assistance to crime victims within the Ministry of Justice, of having committed eleven crimes, including participation in an organized criminal group , the use of crime as a source of income and the abuse of power. These are crimes that would relate to the period in which he was deputy justice minister in the PiS government, which governed from 2015 to the end of last year. In particular, he is suspected of having stolen or attempted to steal almost 40 million euros.
