Viktor Orbán comes to Washington for a photo op with President Obama

Although Hungary is a NATO ally of the United States, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has never been invited to the White House.

Two years ago in Berlin, President Barack Obama announced that the US would host the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit on March 31, 2016, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. This Summit will discuss the threats of smuggling nuclear material and the dangers of nuclear terrorism. The US seeks a strengthened nuclear security architecture that is based on international standards.

Similar summits were held in Seoul in 2012, where President Pál Schmitt represented Hungary, and in The Hague in 2014, where foreign Minister János Martonyi attended. Now Prime Minister Orbán himself is heading to Washington D.C. He badly needs an Obama handshake to prove at home that he is a respected international political leader.

There is one major problem with President Obama’s Security Summit. Nuclear Superpower Russia has pulled out. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “that event is not on the president’s schedule.” This is a major insult to President Obama and to US leadership in nuclear security.

Mr. Putin and Mr. Orbán enjoyed the view from the Hungarian Parliament building in 2015

Mr. Putin and Mr. Orbán enjoyed the view from the Hungarian Parliament building in 2015

Budapest demonstrators against Putin's visit - the sign reads "Putin no, Europe yes".

Budapest demonstrators against Putin’s visit – the sign reads “Putin no, Europe yes”.

Orbán is close to Putin. Orbán protested the EU sanctions against Russia, and two years ago Putin and Orbán signed a nuclear deal to expand Hungary’s nuclear power plant in Paks. Russian will provide a 30-year loan to finance a major part of the EUR 10-12 billion project. Orbán has declared that cooperation with Russia on the Paks nuclear power plant is the “deal of the century.”

In a speech Orbán has also said that he wants to abandon liberal democracy in favor of being an “illiberal state,” citing Russia and Turkey as role models. Some say that Hungary has already become the EU’s first dictatorship.

I have a feeling that Mr. Orbán won’t be invited to the White House anytime soon, and he’ll have to be satisfied with a group photo with President Obama at the Summit.

György Lázár

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