Árpád János Potápi, the state secretary in charge of policies for Hungarian communities abroad, said keeping the network of institutions for Hungarians living outside of the country’s borders operating required a strong Hungarian representation in Transylvania, too, speaking at Danube Days in Rimetea (Torockó), in central Romania, late Saturday.
Let there be no illusions: only Hungarians will advocate for Hungarians, Potápi said in a speech on the closing day of the event. On June 9, it’s your turn to show the true strength of Transylvanian Hungarians and ensure a strong Hungarian representation in both Romania and Brussels, he added, referring to European Parliament and local council elections. He acknowledged Anita Altorjai, the head of public media provider Duna Médiaszolgáltató, and all of the public media staff whose work contributed to preserving the spiritual and cultural heritage of Hungarian communities abroad. Altorjai noted that Hungary’s public media had purchased and renovated the Danube House in the settlement ten years earlier to host events and cultural programmes. A decade later, the importance of the Danube House and Danube Days is clear, she added. “We are one nation, we speak one language and our common roots are in the Carpathian Basin,” she said, marking the Day of National Cohesion, declared by Hungarian lawmakers in 2010. Szilárd Deák-Székely, the mayor of the settlement, acknowledged Duna Médiaszolgáltató for the programmes organised in the Danube House throughout the year. In Torockó, “it is good to be Hungarian”, he added.