Árpád János Potápi, the state secretary of policies for Hungarian communities abroad, stressed the importance of unified thinking on matters affecting ethnic Hungarians at a meeting of the leaders of Hungarian political parties beyond the borders in Rijeka on Saturday.
Potápi told MTI that the purpose of the forum was to show people that the sides fostered friendly ties in addition to their contact in the political sphere. As Hungarians have been separated by borders, he said the strength of the system of political institutions needed to be bolstered to ensure unified thinking as well as support for each other, regardless of the region.
He added that roundtable talks of the kind in Rijeka could serve as a “mentor programme” for sharing experience.
The sides expressed solidarity with the Hungarians in Transcarpathia, in the west of Ukraine, he said.
Participants at the forum, hosted by the Democratic Union of Hungarians of Croatia (HMDK), included Hunor Kelemen, the head of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ); Bálint Pásztor, who heads the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMSZ); László Brenzovics, the head of the Cultural Alliance of Hungarians in Sub-Carpathia (KMKSZ); Krisztián Forró, the leader of Slovakia’s Hungarian Alliance party; Róbert Jankovics, the head of HMDK; and Dusan Orban, the leader of the Prekmurje Hungarian Local Government Ethnic Community (MMÖNK).
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