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Warsaw – The Hungarian ambassador was not invited to the gala inauguration of the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union, after Budapest’s decision to host a member of the former Warsaw government, wanted for several alleged offenses.

In December, Budapest granted political asylum to former Polish Deputy Minister of Justice, Marcin Romanowski, stating that there was “concrete evidence of shortcomings in the judicial process” against him.

Warsaw saw it as a “hostile act.” Its head of diplomacy, Radoslaw Sikorski, sent a note to the Hungarian ambassador to inform him that he “would not be welcomed” at the gala at the National Theatre in Warsaw, said Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka, Deputy Minister for European Affairs, on public television.

Mr. Romanowski, in charge from 2019 to 2023 within the Ministry of Justice of supervising a fund to aid victims of criminal acts, is suspected of having embezzled or attempted to embezzle nearly 40 million euros. (January 3, 2025)

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