(MTI) - "When the Romanian Cultural Institute of Budapest asked me to lease the grand hall of the theatre for a celebration of Romania's national holiday, I thought that the performance and reception may help the two countries, Hungary and Romania, get closer to one another by means of culture and art, despite their stormy past," Alfoldi said in a statement sent to MTI.
The national day of December 1 marks the Alba Iulia national assembly, which declared the unification of Transylvania (until then a Hungarian territory) with the Kingdom of Romania in 1918.
The governing Christian Democratic Party asked the state secretary of culture to immediately review the theatre's contract with the institute, and sack the director if the investigation finds that his decision has violated the interests of the theatre and the public and caused moral harm to the institution.
The radical nationalist Jobbik party accused Alfoldi of assisting in an anti-Hungarian event, saying that his decision "qualifies as treason". The party said it would stage a demonstration in front of the theatre on December 1.
