David Pressman: "US patience with the Orban government has run out"

US patience with the Orban government has run out, said David Pressman, the US ambassador to Hungary, in the speech he gave yesterday at the Budapest 2024 Forum on the development of a sustainable democracy, according to media sites telex.hu, hvg. hu, politico.eu, privatbankar.hu.

According to the cited sources, David Pressman stated: "We have reached the point where we are wondering if Hungary is really a democracy. When I was preparing for this mission, I received a lot of advice: «never forget to admire the beauty of Budapest, especially at night», «pay attention to the flame because it is addictive» and «pay attention not to what the government says, but to what is he doing". (...) The last six months have clearly shown what the Hungarian government has chosen. And it is not transparency, impartiality and commitment to democracy".

The American diplomat believes that the speech of the government in Budapest is a double one, that is, one in which the political statements given to partners in the West do not match the actual actions and measures taken internally, a fact that leads to the collapse of Hungary's relations with the European Union of which it is part part.

David Pressman believes that the functioning of civil society and free media are the two pillars of a democratic system, and it is these two, in his opinion, that have been the subject of a serious attack by the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty in Hungary in recent months, an institution that launched three investigations so far: one against Transparency International, which described the country as the most corrupt state in the EU, one against the independent newspaper Átlatszo, which exposes cases of corruption, and one against civil society and NGOs investigating cases of political influence of China in battery factory projects. In addition to all this, the head of the office stated that only the government can act against corruption, not NGOs.

Regarding this statement, Ambassador Pressman said: "The office is certainly trying to protect something, but it is not about Hungarian sovereignty."

David Pressman believes that the Orban government has managed to convince the majority of citizens only through its propaganda machine which it feeds with funds from the state budget, thus suppressing any critical opinion. He also recalled that, shortly after his arrival in Budapest, he held a protocol meeting with the heads of the National Council of Judges, but after the event the government press labeled the two judges as traitors, news that was on the agenda of the mass media. media close to the Orban government for three months.

David Pressman added: "There are almost 3,000 judges in this country; you can be sure they all saw what happened to their colleagues. They've learned the lesson that there are consequences for everything they do, and they've gotten the message that they could be next on the list. And no one wants to be next."

The American ambassador specified that this type of intimidation provides the opportunity for corruption to flourish and affects not only domestic politics, but also relations with allies.

Pressman exemplified: "In the two strongest alliance systems in the world, under the defense net of NATO and the economic security provided by the EU, Hungary loudly opposes its allies, while opening up to other countries, such as Russia and China, in the name of connectivity. In the speech at Băile Tuşnad, Prime Minister Orban called Russia's actions understandable and rational, while calling the West's policy irrational. Meanwhile, the United States and other countries worked behind the scenes to free innocent civilians imprisoned in Russia, and Prime Minister Viktor Orban flew to Moscow on a peacekeeping mission. The end result was that we freed 16 people, and a day after Orban's plane took off, Russia bombed the largest children's hospital in Ukraine."

At the end of his speech, the ambassador said that he wants to restore Hungarian-American relations, but believes that the allies must give firm answers to the hostile rhetoric of the Hungarian government.