Following the "outrageous" remarks of the outgoing Dutch ambassador, the foreign minister summoned the Hungarian ambassador for consultation. The Dutch foreign minister distanced himself from the diplomat's comparison.
“Hungary has ordered its ambassador to the Netherlands home for consultation, and ambassador-level relations between the two countries will remain on hold for an undetermined period”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Friday in Budapest, Kormany.hu reports.
Szijjártó told reporters he had ordered the Chargé d'affaires to personally reject the slanders and unfounded accusations against Hungary at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, and to demand an explanation from the Dutch Foreign Minstry with regard to what is behind the statements and whether the Dutch ambassador had acted in accordance to a central mandate or of his own accord. In an interview for Hungarian news portal 168 óra, outgoing Dutch Ambassador Gajus Scheltema said that extremist Islamists “create enemies according to the same principles as the Hungarian government”.
The Dutch Foreign Minister, Bert Koenders has informed Hungary’s chief diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, that his government disassociates itself from the statement by the outgoing Ambassador to Budapest equating terrorists and the Hungarian Government”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s press chief informed Hungarian news agency MTI later that day.
