Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's recent remarks on race during a visit to Romania and called on the EU member's ethnic Hungarian party, the UDMR, to clarify its position on statements.
Orban triggered a wave of international criticism after a July 23 speech in Romania in which he warned against mixing with "non-Europeans."
His words sparked an immediate outcry, with the United States calling his remarks "inexcusable" and Jewish community representatives voicing alarm.
"It is wrong and inadmissible in principle for a high European dignitary to deliver a speech on the public scene built on the race theory that led to the most terrible catastrophe of the 20th century," Iohannis said at a joint news conference on July 29 in Bucharest with visiting Moldovan President Maia Sandu.
Speaking at an event at Baile Tusnad, in central Romania, in front of a thousands-strong audience, Orban said: "We move, we work elsewhere, we mix within Europe, but we don't want to be a mixed race," a "multi-ethnic" people who would mix with "non-Europeans."
Iohannis said that the venue of Orban's statement -- the Romanian province of Transylvania, home to a sizable ethnic Hungarian minority -- added to the gravity of Orban's remarks.
"It is regrettable that a European dignitary delivers a public speech with an anti-European bias. That's valid wherever that would occur. But the fact that this happened in Transylvania is a problem for us," Iohannis added.
Iohannis also called on the UDMR, which is a junior partner in Romania's governing coalition, to clarify its position on Orban's statements.
UDMR leader Hunor Kelemen, who is also a deputy prime minister, and several other ethnic Hungarian ministers accompanied Orban during his stay in Romania and were seen applauding his statements.
"UDMR needs to offer public clarifications since a significant part of its leadership and ministers were present at that event," Iohannis said.
"They will have to explain whether they agreed with the contents of that speech which they applauded," he said.
In a first reaction to Iohannis's call for clarification, UDMR spokeswoman Csilla Hegedus said on July 29 that Orban's remarks had been taken out of context, and her party does "not have to give any explanations."
Earlier, Kelemen told Hungarian-language media that Orban doesn't have "an iota of racism in himself" and his remarks have been misunderstood.
Some voices in Romania have called for Kelemen to resign and for the UDMR to leave the coalition.
But senior figures from the main two coalition parties, the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party, poured cold water on the calls and appeared eager to overlook the incident, arguing that UDMR being expelled from the government could provoke another political crisis in the NATO and EU-member country that has a long border with war-torn Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in an unexpected turn of events, Orban's longtime adviser Zsuzsa Hegedus, who on July 26 had slammed the speech as "a pure Nazi text" and had resigned her position, had a complete change of heart on July 29, rescinding her resignation.
Hegedus said in an open letter cited by Hungarian media that she changed her mind after hearing Orban's explanations the previous day in Vienna, where he said that his words had been "misinterpreted."
"It gives me the greatest pleasure to be able to say again...because I still feel it: I am proud of you," Hegedus wrote.
But she later confirmed that despite her change of heart she is out as an adviser to Orban and her assistant has been informed to pack up her office.