Hungary’s ambassador to Stockholm, Adrien Muller was summoned to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen called Sweden’s Minister of Social Affairs Annika Strandhall a “poor, sick creature”.

As we have reported earlier, the escalating diplomatic row started a week ago, when Annika Strandhall tweeted that Hungary’s “alarming” policies were “reeking of the 1930’s”. She suggested the Hungarian prime minister, who she said seeks to promote the birth of “more true Hungarian” babies, was a “right-wing populist trying to obscure the consequences of those policies to the independence women have fought for”. On Thursday, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said that “Hungary spends money on families rather than migrants”. On Friday, Swedish ambassador Niclas Trouvé was summoned to the MFA. One day later, Hungarian Secretary of State for Family and Youth Affairs, Katalin Novak sent a letter to Strandhall, demanding an apology.

Hungary’s Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen was discussing Strandhall’s remarks in a tv programme called Bayer Show, with well-known pro-government journalist Zsolt Bayer. Semjen called the Swedish minister a “poor, sick creature” and rejected her opinion as “aberration”.

An officer of the Swedish MFA’s press service, Vilhelm Runquist confirmed to SVT that Hungary’s ambassador to Stockholm has been summoned to the MFA. The meeting will take place on Wednesday morning. The press secretary of Foreign Minister Margot Wallström told Sveriges Radio that Semjen’s words are “unacceptable”. In a tweet, Strandhall wrote that political disputes should be handled by dialogue instead of personal attacks.

Source: Hungary Journal, MTI
Photo: MTI