The US ambassador to Hungary has said Washington will act in response to Budapest’s “dangerously unhinged anti-American messaging” and “expanding relationship with Russia”.
In a landmark speech in Budapest on Thursday, David Pressman took direct aim at the controversial foreign policy of Hungary’s longtime prime minister, Viktor Orbán, while also accusing the Hungarian government of rampant corruption and undermining independent institutions.
“This speech is about a longtime friend and ally saying and doing things that undermine trust and friendship,” Pressman said, referring to Hungary. “We cannot ignore it when the speaker of Hungary’s national assembly asserts that Putin’s war in Ukraine is actually ‘led by the United States’.
“We can neither understand nor accept the prime minister identifying the United States as a ‘top adversary’ of our ally Hungary. Or his assertion that the United States government is trying to overthrow the Hungarian government – literally, to ‘defeat’ him.”
The ambassador added: “While the Orbán government may want to wait out the United States government, the United States will certainly not wait out the Orbán administration. While Hungary waits, we will act.”
Relations between the US and Hungary have deteriorated significantly over the past few years, with US officials expressing deep frustration over Russian influence and Hungary’s decision to delay Sweden’s accession to Nato.
But Thursday’s speech, delivered to mark the 25-year anniversary of Hungary joining the military alliance, represents a milestone in Budapest’s 14-year slide away from western alliances and democratic institutions.
Last week Orbán travelled to the US, where he met Donald Trump, whom he has repeatedly endorsed and said would end the war in Ukraine.
The trip prompted Joe Biden to declare in a campaign event that Orbán wanted to build a “dictatorship” – a comment that infuriated Budapest and led the country’s foreign ministry to summon Pressman on Tuesday.
In an interview with Hungarian state-controlled media after the US visit, Orbán called Trump “a man of peace”.
“He won’t give a penny to the Ukrainian-Russian war. This is why the war will end, because it’s obvious that Ukraine cannot stand on its own two feet,” Orbán said.
Asked what would happen if Biden won the election, Orbán quipped: “That would be bad.”
Pressman, without mentioning the meeting with Trump, took aim at Orbán’s activities in the US.
“Orbán, who on one hand baselessly claims that the United States government is trying to overthrow his government, publicly calls for the political defeat of the president of the United States and actively participates in US partisan political events,” he said.
“Hungary advocates for electoral candidates around the world from Poland to Brazil, all while decrying foreign interference here at home,” the ambassador emphasised. “Who leads the United States government – or any government – is a question for the people of that country alone to decide.”
The ambassador was blunt about how Washington sees Hungary’s links to Moscow. “Now Hungary’s allies are warning Hungary of the dangers of its close and expanding relationship with Russia,” Pressman said.
“If this is Hungary’s policy choice – and it has become increasingly clear that it is, with the foreign minister’s sixth trip to Russia since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with his next trip to Russia scheduled in two weeks, following his engagement with Russia’s foreign minister earlier this month, and the prime minister’s own meeting with Vladimir Putin in China – we will have to decide how best to protect our security interests, which, as allies, should be our collective security interests.”
Pressman, who insisted the US wants good ties with Hungary and that he will keep reaching out to the government, said Budapest’s behaviour was putting its relationship with the US at risk. “While the Hungarian government’s wild rhetoric in state controlled-media may incite passion, or ignite an electoral base, the choice to issue, on a daily basis, dangerously unhinged anti-American messaging is a policy choice, and it risks changing Hungary’s relationship with America,” he said.
The ambassador also addressed ongoing concerns about the state of Hungary’s democracy. “Ensuring all aspects of government power – from procurement, to licensing, to tourism subsidies, to concessions, to tax and audit actions, to regulatory policy – provide favourable treatment for companies owned by party leaders or their families, in-laws or old friends – these are not words but actions,” he said.
The ambassador listed other concerns. “Independent media in Hungary gets labelled opposition media. Independent non-governmental organisations get labelled political partisans. Independent judges who voice opinions unfavourable to the government, or meet with the American ambassador, are labelled politicians funded and directed from abroad.”
Pressman acknowledged that his comments were unusual.
“No doubt you’ve noticed at this point that we do not ordinarily give speeches like this in other allied countries,” the ambassador said. “With other allies we engage, we collaborate, we work together, even where we have differences. Here, that doesn’t work – until we act.”
