Romania Fails to Celebrate 100 Years from the Treaty of Trianon

On June 4, 2020, Romania, along with other nations, marks, unoficially, the Centenary of the Treaty of Trianon. This is an essential page in the history of the Romanian nation, which took the form of a peace treaty concluded by 16 Allied Powers with Hungary, as the successor state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, defeated in the First World War. During this context of the peace treaty, the Great Powers recognized the Union of Transylvania (and of the eastern part of Banat) with Romania, respectively the will of the Romanians expressed on December 1, 1918.

June 4 2020 marks a century since the Treaty of Trianon at Versailles was signed by the great Powers recognizing the Union of Transylvania and part of Banat with Romania, a fact already fulfilled by the act of December 1, 1918, but which had not been recognized at the time by Hungary. However, Romania fails to celebrate it properly.

The Romanian Chamber of Deputies adopted on May 13 the bill for declaring June 4 the Day of the Treaty of Trianon. The bill was also adopted by the Senate in October last year.

The legislative proposal, initiated by Social Democratic Party senators, aimed at declaring June 4 as Trianon Treaty Day and regulating the appropriate measures for the proper marking of this day at national and local level. However, President Klaus Iohannis did not promulgate it in time, which created certain tensions in Romanian politics and society.

On top of that, it seems that, according to the Romanian Opposition, the Romanian minister of Foreign Affairs forbid the Romanian embassies to celebrate abroad the centenary of the Trianon treaty. This gesture could be justified by the agreements closed following the recent visit in Romania of the Hungarian minister of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó.

June 4 should have been marked properly in Romania, paying homage to all those who sacrificed themselves in the First World War. Unfortunately, president Klaus Iohannis blocked the promulgation of the ‘Trianon law’ adopted by the Romanian Parliament.

Photo source: Romanian National Military Museum