Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, politicians, and Romanian media outlets have protested against remarks of a Mi Hazánk politician targeting an ethnic Hungarian journalist living and working in Romania. Last week, at an event in Sfântu Gheorghe (Sepsiszentgyörgy), Barna Bartha said of Boróka Parászka, a journalist of public broadcaster Târgu Mureș Radio: “If Hungarians can’t hang these people, if they can’t eliminate them, then it’s no wonder we are where we are.” He went on to make anti-Semitic and anti-Roma remarks.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă and Deputy Prime Minister Hunor Kelemen, head of the ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party, condemned the statement on Facebook. “Freedom of opinion for journalists is a basic requirement of the rule of law, and a fundamental value in any democracy. I call on the relevant institutions of the state to … protect journalists and hold those inciting to hatred and discrimination accountable,” Ciucă said.