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Index – Home – David Pressman: The Hungarian government would do well not to reduce this to party politics

Index – Home – David Pressman: The Hungarian government would do well not to reduce this to party politics

“I want to begin my remarks today by noting Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s wonderful trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, this morning. The United States has encouraged the Ukrainian and Hungarian governments to negotiate directly at the leadership level to resolve their differences.”

The ambassador added that the visit of the Hungarian Prime Minister to Ukraine is an important and significant step, and they will follow the results of the meetings.

David Pressman then turned to the upcoming US presidential election. He said that Viktor Orbán talks every day about who he would like to see win this election and who he would vote for if he were an American himself.

But it is not. He is the leader of Hungary, an ally. We have no other ally or partner—not a single one—who, like him, campaigns openly and tirelessly for a particular candidate in the US election, apparently convinced that this will help Hungary, or at least him personally.

The ambassador then stressed that alliances are made between countries, not between ideological partners. He also added that the current Hungarian government may consider its relationship with the United States a “political” issue, but he assures everyone that the United States does not.

The U.S.-Hungarian relationship is based on the shared aspirations of Hungarians and Americans to live in freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and security, and “the Hungarian government would do well not to reduce this to the level of party politics,” said David Pressman.

It is a relationship that is not based on people in power; our alliance is not in such a precarious position with any other country.

He added that the relationship between the two countries cannot be measured by the number of times the prime minister makes statements on social media, or the amount of money Hungarian taxpayers spend on political messages supporting candidates elected to represent the United States.

According to the ambassador, our independence and freedom as a state depends on whether we know the difference between people and individuals, between principles and politics, and whether we know that the former is built on alliances, partnerships and relationships that transcend the latter.

“Just as America is not defined by its president, Hungary is not defined by its prime minister. Our democracies are more than one person, and our commitment to each other must go beyond that as well.”

(Cover photo: David Pressman on September 2, 2022. Photo: Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI)