Senator McCain: Viktor Orbán is undemocratic and cozying up to Vladimir Putin

The US Senate today voted 52-42 to confirm Colleen Bradley Bell to be U.S. ambassador to Hungary.

Senator John McCain is a very influential Republican. He was presidential nominee in 2008, he lost to President Obama, and now he is considered possible presidential candidate in 2016. When Senator McCain talks American politicians listen.

McCain spoke in the Senate about Ms. Bell’s nomination, he said he was used to presidents in both parties appointing wealthy donors to plush ambassadorships in the Caribbean, but President Obama is now sending an unqualified individual to Hungary that need a career ambassador. He claimed that Ms. Bell “is totally unqualified for this position.”

Senator McCain used his speech to launch an unprecedented barrage of attacks against the Orbán-regime. Here are some excerpts from the C-SPAN transcript:

“Hungary is a close ally in many respects, but there’s no doubt that since taking office in 2010, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has centralized power, has reduced the independence of Hungary’s courts, pushed through controversial changes of the Constitution and placed acute restrictions on non-governmental organizations….. This is a very important country where bad things are going on and Ms. Bell’s experiences have been largely relegated to producing the television soap opera “The Bold and The Beautiful”.”…

“If it were some Caribbean country, some other, I would understand that. But here we are in a relationship with a country where, according to Bloomberg News, Orbán says he seeks to end liberal democracy in Hungary. The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says he wants to favor an illiberal state citing Russia and Turkey as example.”

“The Hungarian Prime Minister is distancing himself from the values of most European nations. Mr. Orbán said that NGOs are receiving service from abroad, need to be “monitored” as he considered those to be foreign powers. We are talking about the National Democratic Institute, Freedom House and others. He calls them “We are not dealing with civil society members but paid political activists who are trying to help foreign interests here.” Amazing! Mr. Orbán, who has fueled public projects, says he wants to replace welfare societies with work fair state. Mr. Orbán is cozying up to Vladimir Putin. He now entered into a nuclear deal and is practicing the same kind of antidemocratic practices as his role model, Vladimir Putin.”

Mr. McCain and Mr. Orbán

Mr. McCain and Mr. Orbán

In February of this year Senator McCain visited Budapest and already warned Orbán: “We understand the concerns about the state of democracy in Hungary that have been raised by people both inside and outside of this country. Some of these concerns are very serious. They need to be resolved democratically, by Hungarians, and this country’s democratic institutions, its checks and balances and rule of law, need to be strong enough to support that process.”

The pro-Orbán media poked fun of Senator McCain’s serious comments. Mr. Tamás Fricz wrote in the pro-Fidesz newspaper Magyar Nemzet that Senator John McCain came, He Saw, and He Talked Nonsense. He wrote, that Hungary would forget McCain’s lightning fast visit just as quickly as he made it.

It seems that Senator McCain did not take well the insults of Mr. Orbán & Co., and now made it clear in no uncertain terms that the conservative Republicans won’t tolerate Mr. Orbán’s illiberal policies.

Hungarian-American relations just hit a new low point.

György Lázár

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