Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó did not mince his words when he rebutted the recent remarks of US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman. The foreign minister declared that the opinion of the ambassador of the United States to Hungary is of very little relevance in terms of Hungarian domestic politics.
The Back-and-Forth Between Pressman and Szijjártó
Recently, David Pressman told POLITICO that Hungary pushes policies endorsed by Putin. In response to a query by Hungarian cable television ATV at a non-related press conference: ‘Regarding the words of the ambassador, I can only say that it really does not matter what he, or for that matter, any other ambassador thinks about Hungarian domestic politics, because it is none of their business.’ He added that a chief of mission’s ‘job is not to interfere in Hungarian domestic politics, and if he wishes to spend his time in Hungary criticising the…democratically elected government, then he will have a hard time working towards improving the cooperation between the two countries.’
The minister also stressed that when the government receives an ambassador, ‘we literally receives them. We receive people who we believe are sent here by their countries to improve relations and cooperation between the two countries, based on mutual respect. It is not regents or viceroys that we receive, because I believe they would be sent here to tell us how to live in our own country. Those times are over.’
Szijjártó emphasised that Hungary is a sovereign country. ‘No one can tell us from the outside how to lead our lives within our own borders. Whether it is a foreign citizen, or even a foreign ambassador, their opinion is irrelevant for us.’
Minister Szijjártó also reminded that Hungarian voters have expressed their will unequivocally in the past three elections, even though there are foreign actors, ‘including the part of the world where Ambassador Pressman is from, that have attempted to inspire, or even finance, decisions to the contrary. So, I kindly ask the ambassador, and everyone else to treat Hungarians with more respect!’, he underlined.
Ambassador Pressman did not leave it at that. On Friday, he took to Twitter, and posted the following: ‘Respectfully, we do not consider Russia’s attempt to unilaterally redraw the borders of Europe as just a domestic political development in Hungary.’
