Hungarian-Romanian relations are foreign relations between Hungary and Romania. Relations between the two nations date back to the Middle Ages, including Wallachia and Moldavia. Modern diplomatic relations between the two states date back to Romanian unification in 1859 and independence in 1877.
Both countries share of common border. Both nations are full members of NATO and of the European Union. However, there are historical nationalist tensions over Transylvania.
Bilateral relations
Romania's ethnic Hungarian party also participated in all the government coalitions between 1996 and 2008 and from 2009. In 1996, Romania signed and ratified a basic bilateral treaty with Hungary that settled outstanding disagreements, laying the foundation for closer, more cooperative relations.
Economic relations
In 2012, the total amount of international trade between Romania and Hungary was 7.3 billion euro, of which exports from Romania were 2.4 billion euro, whereas exports from Hungary were 4.9 billion euro. Hungary ranks as the third of Romania's trade partners, after Germany and Italy.
MOL Group and OTP Bank, two of Hungary's largest companies, are present in Romania since 2003 and 2004 respectively. MOL Group operates (as of August 2013) a network of 138 fuel stations in Romania, which accounts for approximately 10 percent of the total network. OTP Bank has a widespread network of branches in Romania, with presence in every county.
Wizz Air is a low-cost airline from Hungary, which operates flights from several airports in Romania (Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Târgu Mureș, Sibiu, Timișoara, Iasi, Suceava and Craiova) to various destinations in Europe. It is the largest low-cost airline operating in Romania, and in 2013 it carried 3.2 million passengers on its over 72 local routes.
RCS & RDS, Romania's leading company in internet and cable and satellite television services, is arguably the second or third company on the television market in Hungary, with (as of August 2013) around 22.4 percent of market share.
Hungary → Romania
Most important Hungarian investors in Romania: MOL, OTP Bank, Gedeon Richter Plc.
Most important Romanian investors in Hungary: RCS & RDS, Automobile Dacia.
Conflict
Thinking about Dacia, Romanians consider it the old territory of their ancestors before any Huns arrived in Europe. The ancient Kingdom of Dacia was established and documented starting in 168 BC. In regards to Hungary, there is disagreement over Transylvania, which Romanians believe is claimed to be Hungarian by Hungarians, despite prehistoric records of Geto-Dacians suggesting otherwise. Under Attila, the Huns did conquer Transylvania in 376 who kept it until the death of Attila in 453. Later, the territory was periodically occupied and exploited by the Huns.
Despite having a mostly positive relationship, many Hungarians believe that Romania does not deserve the current territory of Transylvania, because Transylvania was also an integral part of the Kingdom of Hungary (1000-1526, 1848-1849, 1867-1920) and the Lands of the Hungarian Crown (Eastern Hungarian Kingdom (1526-1570), Principality of Transylvania (1570-1867)) until the Treaty of Trianon.
World War I
During the war, initially the Kingdom of Romania was neutral to the Central Powers, thus with Austria-Hungary. In August 1916 Romania entered the war on side of the Allies and attacked the Kingdom of Hungary, however it was pushed back to the frontier in October and by January 1917, two-thirds of Romania were occupied by the Central Powers. The Romanians were forced to retreat to the historical region of Moldavia, but were able to stave off complete collapse in 1917 by reorganizing their army and repulsing the Central Powers' offensive at Mărășești and Oituz. Nevertheless, after the October Revolution of 1917, Russia fell into civil war, and the Russian government signed two ceasefire agreements with the Central Powers, followed later (on December 15) by a full armistice. Lacking Russian support, the Romanian government was subsequently forced to sue for peace, concluding in December 1917 the Armistice of Focșani.
Hungarian–Romanian War
In 1918, Romania re-entered the war with similar objectives to those of 1916. During the 1919 Hungarian–Romanian War Hungary, led by Communist forces, tried to secure its borders, however it was soon defeated and later occupied by Romanian forces.