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Hungary Has Seaport Again After Century Of Open Wound

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – Hungary has a seaport again more than 100 years after losing most of its territory. Landlocked Hungary purchased a 32-hectare area with a 300-meter-long (0.2 miles) coastline for 31 million euros in northeastern Italy, officials confirmed.

The site is in Trieste, situated at the end of a narrow Italian proper strip between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. Hungary’s Foreign Ministry said that Hungarian companies could use the seaport for exports expected to reach two million tons annually or about 78,000 sea containers.

However, authorities cautioned that shipping couldn’t start immediately. Officials said the area must “first be remediated,” and a necessary heritage protection procedure could take up to a year. And Hungarian taxpayers will have to spend another 100 million euros on developing the area’s infrastructure.

But the government says it’s a price worth paying. It claims Hungarian firms will use the seaport in Trieste to reach profitable markets in Africa and the Middle East more easily. But it is also a symbolic site for Hungary, which lost two-thirds of its territory under the Treaty of Trianon after World War One.

Hungary’s controversial war-time regent Miklos Horthy became an admiral without a navy during that time. He later was an ally of Nazi Germany, which returned some territories to Hungary. Fast forward, the Treaty of Trianon remains an open wound to many Hungarians, and owning a seaport is seen as a small victory.

The right-wing government of Hungary’s staunchly nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who once praised Horthy as “an exceptional statesman,” considered two possible locations for the port.

BILATERAL TALKS

In 2019 Hungary reportedly wanted to purchase a port in Slovenia’s city of Koper. But Hungarian media cited political tensions as why bilateral talks began with firebrand Italian politician Matteo Salvini instead. Salvini, then Italy’s deputy prime minister and interior minister, was a close Orbán ally.

Both men had similar worldviews, Hungarian commentators said.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Salvini already inked the initial agreement granting Hungary 60 years of usage rights in 2019. But it took more than a year to work out details, according to officials familiar with the talks.

The Foreign Ministry in Budapest said it signed the final contract last month. Under the deal, Italian company Aquila, which had the concession rights, was taken over by Hungary’s state-owned ‘Adria Port’ firm.

The Hungarian government reportedly increased its capital in the company from 1.8 million to 16.8 million euros. Hungarian media complained that the Adria Port company has only four registered employees. The salary of its chief executive officer was reportedly recently raised from 4,100 euros ($4,950) to 5,200 euros ($6,300)

It was not immediately clear whether the European Union would object to the purchase. Orbán’s government has also faced EU investigations over reported corruption and mismanagement of European funding, charges Budapest denies.