Poland withdraws ambassador to Hungary in row over asylum for opposition politicians

Poland has officially withdrawn its ambassador to Hungary due to what it says was Budapest's “hostile” decision to grant asylum to a Polish opposition politician wanted for alleged crimes committed while serving in the former Law and Justice (PiS) government.

Hungary has criticized the decision, calling it “regrettable”, “unprecedented” and warning that it “lowers the level of bilateral diplomatic relations”.

The Polish ambassador, Sebastian Kęciek, had already been recalled to Poland last December for “indefinite consultations in Warsaw” after Hungary that month granted political asylum to PiS politician Marcin Romanowski.

Romanowski had fled an arrest warrant in Poland, where he is accused of accused by prosecutors of various crimes – including participating in an organized criminal group, using crime as a source of income, and abusing power – relating to his time as deputy justice minister in the former PiS government.

Poland has now formally ended the mission of the ambassador, with 15 July marking his final day in office. The embassy in Budapest will be led by the chargé d'affaires, Jacek Śladewski, with no plans to replace Kęciek announced so far.

On Wednesday, Hungarian foreign deputy minister Levente Magyar announced on Facebook that “Poland has finally recalled its ambassador to Hungary, officially lowering the level of bilateral diplomatic relations.”

“The gradual deterioration of political relations has led to this table regret step, which is unprecedented in the history of relations with our Central European partners,” he added. Hungary's ruling Fidesz party and its leader, Viktor Orbán, are close allies of PiS .

On Thursday, Paweł Wroński, spokesman of the Polish foreign ministry, confirmed that Kęciek – who had served as ambassador since March 2022, when PiS was still in power – has “terminated his duties and ceased to be ambassador to Hungary”.

Speaking later to state broadcaster TVP, Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski said that the decision was “just confirmation of the existing state of affairs”. He explained that “Hungary carried out a hostile act against Poland”.

“Hungary violated the principle of mutual trust and granted asylum to a person suspected of financial crimes,” said Sikorski. “By doing so, they effectively said: 'We don't trust the Polish prosecutor's office and the Polish courts.' This is an act unfriendly towards Poland, which is why I withdrew our ambassador.”

Poland's foreign ministry has previously announced that it plans to launch legal action against Hungary at the Court of Justice of the European Union over Budapest's decision to grant Romanowski asylum, which it says “clearly violated the principle of sincere cooperation” enshrined in EU law.

Since coming to power in December 2023, Poland's current government, a broad coalition led by Donald Tusk, has made holding former PiS officials accountable for alleged corruption and abuses of power one of its priorities.

In addition to Romanowski, prosecutors are seeking convictions against a number of former PiS government ministers, including Mariusz Kamiński , Michał Woś and Michał Dworczyk .

PiS has contemplated, however, that the government is using the justice system for political purposes, in order to attack the opposition. During its own time in power, PiS was widely seen by international organizations , many Polish courts, and the Polish public themselves to have politicized and undermined the justice system.

Main image credit: PLinHungary/X