Statement of Ambassador David Pressman Nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Senate Committee on Foreign Relations June 23, 2022 Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, distinguished members of the Committee, it is an honor to return to this Committee as the President’s nominee to represent the United States in Hungary. I am grateful to President Biden and Secretary Blinken for the […]
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President Biden nominates David Pressman as US Ambassador to Budapest
On Friday, May 13, 2022 President Biden announced his intent to nominate David Pressman, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Hungary. The official announcement reads: “David...
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President Trump and Hungarian swimmer, Réka György attack trans University of Pennsylvania swimmer, Lia Thomas
In January 2022, former President Donald Trump said he would ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports nationwide if he were re-elected president. “We will ban men from participating...
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Orbán’s propaganda calls Ukraine’s President Zelensky a “Jewish comedian”
Viktor Orbán’s vicious propaganda machine is in overdrive. Lately, it surprised me again. The recent attack on Ukraine’s hero President Zelensky is a new low. Pro-Orbán media calls him a “Jewish...
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A lesson in defeat — Hungary’s united democratic opposition suffers unexpectedly poor result
Election night in Hungary was as good as it could be for Fidesz and proved as awful as possible for Péter Márki-Zay’s United for Hungary. Not only did Fidesz sail to victory, but rather helpfully,...
Recently in the spotlight
Hungary’s amoral ruling party must be defeated
Standing on a little wooden chair and encircled by fans, this image of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán summed up effectively the bogus, foundationless nature of the Orbán regime that has ruled the country for 12 years. Fidesz is, after all, the party that embraces the conceit of being the sole legitimate representation of all that is Christian and patriotic. Yet […]
Scores of ballots cast for Hungarian opposition parties found burned in Transylvania
Piles of mail-in ballots, some cast for the United for Hungary rainbow coalition, as well as for the far-right Mi Hazánk party, have been discovered in a garbage dump near the town of Marosvásárhely, Romania — also known in Romanian as Târgu Mureș. Many of the discarded ballots were burned. The dump is essentially an illegal nuisance ground, located on a […]
Hungary’s election is tight, but Fidesz has the edge
Hungarians go to the polls Sunday, April 3rd (with advance voting on April 2nd for the diaspora in North America) to decide the fate the Orbán regime, in power since 2010. A poll released this week shows a tight race between the two leading party slates: Fidesz-KDNP and the United for Hungary (Egységben Magyarországért) rainbow coalition of opposition parties. Závecz […]
Putin, Orbán, Le Pen and Mészáros – Hungary’s pipe-fitter turned oligarch
I wonder if anyone ever heard about Hungarian oligarch Mr. Lőrinc Mészáros in France? The billionaire is playing an important role in the upcoming French election, Mészáros is bankrolling Marine Le Pen’s election campaign. Here is the story. Mészáros is Viktor Orbán’s childhood friend who started out as a pipe-fitter and within a couple of years miraculously he became one […]
Orbán’s pro-Putin propaganda is working, Hungarians blame Zelensky for Russia’s attack
For over a decade, Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán has been waging a war against the country’s free press and he is succeeding. Most of Hungary’s 10-million people do not speak another language. Orbán’s fake-news factories, trolls and misleading “political analysts” dominate the media and the result is that today the Hungarian public seems to be one of the most […]
Hungary’s united democratic opposition announces election slate and is boosted by polls
Hungarian voters, spanning from Hungary to across the ocean in Canada, will head to the voting booths on April 3rd, 2022. And after 12 years in power, democratically-minded Hungarians will seek to end Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian, corrupt and singularly cynical rule. What makes this national election different than the last three in which Mr. Orbán’s Fidesz party claimed […]
Hungary’s Migration Aid launches outreach to refugees from Ukraine
Hungary is at the centre of an unfolding refugee crisis, following Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Western Ukraine is also home to a community of more than 150,000 ethnic Hungarians, many of whom have close ties through family and friends to Hungary. While compassion always calls us to see beyond linguistic and national boundaries when it comes to […]
Hungary prepared to accept Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russian invasion
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, traditionally an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has finally condemned Moscow’s ruthless invasion of Ukraine. The Hungarian leader also announced that the country is ready to accept refugees from Ukraine immediately. The first Ukrainian citizens to seek refuge in Hungary crossed the border at Beregsurány and Záhony on 24 February. The average wait times […]
Viktor Orbán refuses to condemn Putin even if Hungarians in Ukraine come under assault
The leader of Hungary’s united democratic opposition, Péter Márki-Zay, pointed out Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s deafening silence on the invasion of its peaceful eastern neighbour by Vladimir Putin’s Russia. He added pointedly that Mr. Orbán would avoid condemning his ruthless Russian ally even if the Hungarian minority in western Ukraine were directly threatened by the current war. “In 1956, we […]
Stop Hungarian glorification of WWII-era fascists in the US – a letter to Congressman Deutch
Congressman Theodore Eliot Deutch is representing Florida’s 22nd Congressional District since 2010. His district is the home of many Americans of Hungarian origin in the State of Florida. I called on the Congressman to condemn recent efforts of the Hungarian Government to promote WWII-era fascists in the United States. *** Dear Congressman Deutch, In 2015 you wrote a letter to Prime […]
