The International Democrat Union (IDU) is an alliance of right wing political parties, headquartered in Munich, Germany and currently chaired by Stephen Harper, the former Prime Minister of Canada.
Mr. Harper and his friend, Hungarian-born Canadian film producer, Robert Lantos travelled to Hungary to spend the August 20th National Holiday with far-right authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Lord Ashcroft, conservative British billionaire politician (and writer) also showed up.
Orbán issued an official statement that he met Harper “to discuss current political events… the talks touched on general political topics and the possibilities of developing Hungarian-Canadian cultural ties.”
Mr. Antal Rogán, Orbán’s cabinet chief, and Ms. Katalin Novák, the state secretary for youth and family affairs, also attended the meeting.
Lord Ashcroft noted that he had an “interesting” meeting and Ms. Novák greeted the guests in Christian Hungary. Mr. Lantos is Jewish and as a youngster had unpleasant experiences in “Christian Hungary”… but kept smiling. Politics (and money) make strange bedfellows.
György Lázár