Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó responded to Biden’s earlier statement on the Hungarian government in an interview to Mfor, saying that it is a clear insult to the Hungarian nation, and that he hopes it will not define relations for the next four years. The Hungarian government is understandably unhappy about being called authoritarian and referred to as a bad apple among democracies, especially by the soon-to-be leader of the free world, Joe Biden.
Szijjártó continued that before Biden slanders a Central European nation, he should first address the allegations of corruption around his family’s ties to Ukraine.
However, Szijjártó took a positive stance towards the subject, hoping for continued bilateral cooperation and that Biden will not follow the example of the Obama administration.
I hope the next, Democratic administration will not bring the two countries’ political relations back to where the previous one had. I negotiated at the U.S. State Department in 2014, and in 2018. It was not the same mood”
Given that Biden served as vice-president under the Obama administration, his potential course of action is not boding well for Hungary. Szijjártó has made clear Hungary’s intentions of maintaining the positive relations which were re-established during the Trump Administration.
Based off the interpretation of leadership Barack Obama discussed in his recent interview, US-Hungarian relations are unlikely to remain positive, with democrats promoting democrats, and strongmen promoting strongmen.
Featured photo illustration by Mátyás Borsos/Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
