È tempo di una resa dei conti in Occidente sull’Ungheria, afferma l’ambasciatore degli Stati Uniti

The US ambassador in Budapest has said Hungary’s democracy problems and foreign policy divergence from the west can no longer be dismissed as rhetoric and that the time has come for “a reckoning”.

Since coming to power more than 14 years ago, the Hungarian prime minister, [Viktor Orbán](https://www.theguardian.com/world/viktor-orban), has concentrated political and economic power in the hands of his ruling party and a handful of businesspeople close to the government, while also nurturing relationships with Moscow and Beijing.

In recent months, civil society groups and foreign governments have raised [concerns](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/06/somewhere-between-orwell-and-kafka-hungary-closes-in-on-its-media?CMP=share_btn_url) that the Hungarian government is taking steps to put more pressure on independent voices. Hungary’s trajectory has posed a dilemma for its allies, as the country remains a member of both the EU and Nato.

In a speech on Wednesday, David Pressman, who has served as the American ambassador to Hungary since 2022, said “one needn’t look further than the past six months to recognise that the alibi of ‘just words’ is no longer adequate in the face of the apparent divergences in Hungary’s relationship with the rest of [Europe](https://www.theguardian.com/world/europe-news) and the transatlantic alliance”.

Orbán shocked allies this summer when he embarked on what he has termed a “peace mission” while his country holds the Council of the EU’s rotating presidency, [visiting Russia’s Vladimir Putin](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/05/viktor-orban-visits-vladimir-putin-to-condemnation-from-fellow-eu-leaders), China’s Xi Jinping and the US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, a Hungarian decision to ease visa restrictions for Russian and Belarusian citizens has raised security concerns in Europe.

Pressman took aim at what he described as Hungary’s “doublespeak”.

“How can the country of 1956 also be so cosy with Putin’s Russia? How can a country be both a member of the [European Union](https://www.theguardian.com/world/eu) and also at war with ‘Brussels’? How can an ally of the United States also, in the prime minister’s words, be its ‘adversary’? How can a repeated victim of Russian aggression also obstruct efforts to respond to it?” he said.

The ambassador, who became a household name in Hungary – and the target of attacks in pro-government media – for his vocal critique of the government’s foreign policy choices and democratic backsliding, also cautioned about the impact on the state of Hungarian democracy.

“The governing party’s control of the media and its attacks on civil society have created an atmosphere of fear,” Pressman said. “The atmosphere of fear allows corruption to flourish, and influences the government’s choices of its partners, not only at home, but also abroad.”

He argued that Hungary’s allies must face the reality of what is transpiring in the country.

Agreed.

How an Earth can an ambassador openly undermine the country where he serves?

An old-school coup organized by the CIA would be welcome here.