Dutch ambassador declared persona non grata

As reported by the Hungarian news agency MTI, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said this Thursday that the Dutch Ambassador Gajsu Scheltema is no longer a welcome guest in the Ministry and certainly no one will receive him at any level.

The minister's words came after an interview was published in the Hungarian weekly 168 óra where the Ambassador - referring to the recent Barcelona attack - voiced his opinion that the terrorists create enemies along the same line as the Hungarian government does [in its domestic policy].

The Ambassador also said that Hungary needs to receive EU funding as it is less developed than the countries of Western Europe. However, he added that the system of distributing the money needs to be made more transparent, accountable and more controllable. Money is currently flowing to the governments of individual countries and they do whatever they want with it, this must be changed.

The minister rejected the idea that the Ambassador puts an equal sign between terrorists and the Hungarian government "with regard to motivation or methods." He added that "we are glad that the Dutch Ambassador leaves Hungary and we hope he does that as soon as possible."