On Thursday, Klaus Iohannis made an impolite gesture that could be called unfriendly in diplomatic protocol towards his host, Viktor Orbán, in Budapest.
The Romanian president is participating in the European Political Community (EPC) summit, which brings together nearly half a hundred countries, in the company of more than forty heads of state and government; on Friday, an informal meeting of the heads of state and government of the European Union will take place in the Hungarian capital. Viktor Orbán personally received the heads of state and government at the entrance of the Puskás Arena in Budapest, which hosts the EPC meeting, on Thursday. It was made on the spot, as evidenced by the embedded video recording
they all jumped out of the car as soon as he rolled up to the entrance of the football arena with them,
be it Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni or Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The only exception is Klaus Iohannis, who got out of the car and then did not rush to the Hungarian Prime Minister who was waiting opposite him, but turned to the right and turned his back on Viktor Orbán. The Romanian head of state exchanged a few words with his advisor for about 20 seconds, adjusted his jacket, put away his phone, and only then turned to his host. Viktor Orbán reacted to all this visibly cheerfully, with a sideways smile. After the interlude, Iohannis and Orbán shook hands, the Hungarian Prime Minister greeted the Romanian Head of State, and they exchanged a few words after taking a photo together.
The Romanian media did not leave the incident unsaid either, the Antena3 news television called Iohannis turning his back on Orbán a "contradictory gesture". The channel relates the Romanian president's gesture to the fact that the Hungarian police allegedly "walked" the convoy carrying Iohannis around the Puskás Arena for a quarter of an hour, as - at least according to Antena3 - they lost sight of the right way to the entrance of the stadium hosting the summit. The news TV also notes that Iohannis traveled from Sibiu to the Hungarian capital in the same private plane that he used during his visits to many parts of the world in recent years.
Klaus Iohannis is known for his impatient nature. The Romanian press sometimes recalls how, shortly at the beginning of his first mandate, during his visit to France in 2015, he pulled the Romanian head of state out of his rut, and what kind of reception he received at the Paris airport. After getting off the plane and walking to the official car, Iohannis took off his coat, but since no one from his own delegation or the French hosts was in a hurry to help him off and take it, the president threw the garment on top of the car in anger, wrote the kronikaonline.ro.
Photo: screenshot / kronikaonline.ro
