Hungary expects to resolve diplomatic dispute with the Netherlands

Hungary expects the diplomatic dispute with the Netherlands to be over soon, Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto said here at a press conference on Tuesday after meeting his Danish counterpart Anders Samuelsen.

The Hungarian minister said he hoped that the dispute, which led to Hungary recalling its ambassador to The Hague, could come to an end at the upcoming EU summit in September when the prime ministers of both countries would meet.

"About Holland, I can tell you that we foreign ministers have done what could have been done, I was assured that the standpoint of the ambassador was not the official standpoint of the Netherlands, and I hope that by Sept. 29, after the meeting of the prime ministers at the EU summit, we can put this dispute behind us," he added.

On Aug. 25, Budapest recalled its ambassador to The Hague for an undetermined period, after outgoing Dutch ambassador to Hungary Gajus Scheltema harshly criticized the Hungarian government in the political opposition weekly newspaper "168 ora" (168 hours).

Scheltema said in an interview for 168 ora that extremist Islamists "created enemies along the same lines as the Hungarian government."

Szijjarto called the allegations of Scheltema outrageous and rejected them.