Documents uncovered this week suggest that the Orbán government’s motivation for handing back to Azerbaijan Ramil Safarov, the Azeri axe murder convicted of killing an Armenian army lieutenant in Hungary, may have been financial gain. In 2012, Hungary earned global scorn for transferring the murderer to a country where he was welcomed as a hero. Here in Ottawa, Canada, the […]
The Hungarian government recently recalled its ambassador to the Netherlands after the Dutch Ambassador to Hungary, Gajus Scheltema, drew parallels between the government’s efforts to “create enemies” and those of the Islamic State group. In an interview Scheltema also criticized Hungary’s treatment of asylum-seekers and the government’s campaign against philanthropist George Soros. Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders distanced himself from his […]
Outgoing Dutch ambassador Gajus Scheltema’s suggestion that the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán creates enemies along the same lines as Islamic terrorists sparked a political firestorm in Hungary. Mr. Scheltema said, as part of a response to journalists from the 168 Óra weekly on the risk of terrorist attacks, particularly after Barcelona: “A car attack can occur anywhere in […]
The newly appointed Hungarian Ambassador, László Szabó, has put the blame squarely on the US State Department for the poor relations between the two countries. According to Ambassador Szabó the State Department has a major problem: “The vast majority of the staff members of the US State Department, where tens of thousands of people work, still have ties to the […]
Robert Fico, Slovakia’s prime minister and a left-leaning politician not immune to populism, nationalism and euroscepticism, has distanced himself from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s hard-line anti-EU and anti-western rhetoric. Most crucially: Mr. Fico confirmed that for him, cooperation and a close alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Germany and President Emmanuel Macron’s France is more important than cooperation among the […]
There is a suspicion that the Orbán government played a role in building a “bridge” between Russian President Putin and President elect Trump. At this point, we don’t know whether this “bridge building” effort is significant enough to register on the radar screen of the ongoing US Congressional and Senate investigations in Washington DC. According to the European Council on […]
Stephen Gergatz, ex-honorary Hungarian Consul in New Orleans and Sarasota, made news in Hungary and abroad earlier this year, when he was arrested on Casperson Beach, in Florida. This month, Mr. Gergatz was acquitted on all charges, yet Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to distance itself from the former honorary consul, who was asked to resign following the incident. […]
Isabelle Poupart, Canada’s ambassador to Hungary, issued what was perhaps the most unequivocal statement yet from the Government of Canada on the Orbán regime’s attacks against academic freedom and its on-going attempt to shut down Central European University. The Budapest regime’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó, summoned Ambassador Poupart, asserting that the Canadian diplomat made “false accusations” and adding […]
Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) expressed its serious concerns about the state of democracy in Hungary in a comment provided to the Hungarian Free Press. The comment was made by Hélène Laverdière, the NDP’s Critic for Foreign Affairs and Member of Parliament for the riding of Laurier – Sainte-Marie. HFP asked Ms. Laverdière to comment on the many rule of […]
Republican Congresswoman from Tennessee Marsha Blackburn is pleased with President Trump’s executive order to bar Syrian refugees and block citizens of seven countries, among them Iran, from entering the US. Rep. Blackburn considers Iran an enemy of the United States and two years ago she expressed strong concerns over Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. She wrote that the Iranians were […]
