Hungary grants 'asylum' to wanted Polish politician

For more than 150 years, Poland and Hungary have been linked in a remarkable way.

Both nations supported each other in their efforts for independence. Freedom fighters from both countries rushed to help each other in existential historical moments, such as during the anti-Habsburg revolution of 1848.

In 1956, when Hungary underwent an anti-communist revolution, Poles spontaneously organized blood drives for the victims of the Soviet invasion.

"Pole and Hungarian brothers be" is a well-known proverb in both countries. Since 2007, there has even been an official day dedicated to Polish-Hungarian friendship, March 23.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban admired the Poles' deep desire for freedom and their anti-communist struggle so much that he wrote his thesis as law student in 1987 on "Polish social self-organization using the example of the Solidarity trade union."

However, Orban of all people has now caused an all-time low in the countries' relations.

On December 19, he granted asylum to the former Polish Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski, who is wanted on a European arrest warrant.

Political collision between Warsaw, Budapest

This decision promptly led to a political head-on clash between Poland and Hungary, whose relations have already been dire since the change of power in Poland in December 2023.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski described the move as "an action contrary to the fundamental principle of loyal cooperation" as laid out in the EU treaties.

He also recalled the Polish ambassador to Hungary for "indefinite consultations" and summoned the Hungarian ambassador in Warsaw to give him a protest note. This kind of diplomatic escalation is extremely rare between EU countries.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also compared Orban's Hungary to the regime of dictator Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus. In May, a Polish judge who is under investigation for abuse of office and leaking state secrets fled to Belarus.

"I did not expect corrupt politicians escaping justice would be able to choose between [Belarusian President Alexander] Lukashenko and Orban," Tusk said.

'Liberal rainbow coalition'

The Hungarian prime minister had already indicated on December 19 that he would grant asylum to "Polish political refugees."

In an interview with the conservative pro-government Hungarian news portal Mandiner, he also called the current Polish government a "liberal rainbow coalition" that "uses the rule of law and legal means to get even with its political opponents."

Polish-Hungarian relations are "at a low point because the liberal Polish rainbow coalition is unable to distinguish between party and state politics," Orban said.

In reality, however, the governing coalition of the liberal-conservative Polish prime minister is trying to do exactly the opposite. It wants to untangle the nexus of party and state politics that existed under the previous national-conservative government and to investigate its corruption scandals.

One of the people at the center of the investigation is the former deputy justice minister, Romanowski.

Romanowski charged with 11 criminal offenses

Between 2019 and 2023, Romanowski was in charge of the Justice Fund which was designed to support victims of crime. However, the public prosecutor has charged the politician with 11 criminal offenses, including membership of a criminal organization, embezzlement and manipulation in the allocation of money from the fund.

The sum of the disputed funds amounts to around 112 million Polish zloty (approx. €25 million/$27.3 million).

The 48-year-old lawmaker from the former ruling and now opposition Law and Justice party (PiS) was briefly arrested in July, but was later released. As a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, he enjoyed immunity. However, this immunity was lifted by the body in October.

On December 9, a court in Warsaw ordered Romanowski to be remanded in custody for three months. Only, by then, he had already gone into hiding and fled to Hungary.

On December 20, Romanowski posted on social media that asylum for a member of the Polish opposition was a "strong warning signal for Tusk's regime."

He said he wanted to continue working from Budapest for a "sovereign, Christian and strong Poland," with his goal being to "abolish the Tusk regime."

'Hungarian government using refugee protection to save political allies'

The affair exemplifies the severe level of problems the Tusk government faces in restoring the rule of law in Poland.

Poland's judiciary, including the Constitutional Court, remain heavily dominated by PiS supporters. And President Andrzej Duda, who is close to the PiS, continues to delay all government reforms as much as possible.

It's not the first time that a prominent corruption suspect has been granted asylum in Hungary.

In 2018, the former Macedonian head of government Nikola Gruevski fled to Hungary where he received asylum.

In more recent years, the Hungarian government has also granted temporary refuge to several politicians from the Hungarian minority in Romania.

For Poland, however, the escape of a member of parliament is a precedent, commented the conservative Polish daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

"Romanowski has asked an ally of Putin for help. It is a disgrace to be an ally of Putin's ally," the paper wrote.

In Hungary, the left-wing portal Merce ran the headline "The Hungarian government is using refugee protection to save political allies."

Open for more Polish politicians

Both Polish and Hungarian media outlets are now speculating which PiS politician will be the next to leave for Hungary.

It may well be MEP Daniel Obajtek, former head of the Polish oil company Orlen, who has been involved in numerous corruption scandals.Among other charges, he is facing prosecution for manipulating Orlen tenders.

The speculation about Obajtek was fueled by Orban on December 22 during his annual end-of-year press conference. After a female journalist specifically asked about the former head of Orlen, Hungary's prime minister — who is known for his misogynistic remarks — said: "I don't know if we're thinking of the same man because you never know which man is in a woman's head."

However, as Obajtek is a member of the European Parliament, there is no need to deal with him, Orban said, referring to the man's immunity.

"Generally speaking, we have to be prepared for the fact that there will and could be more cases like this," he added.

This article was originally written in German.