CARDIN ANGERS HUNGARIANS
The president of the Hungarian American Coalition is accusing the leading Democrat on a key congressional human rights panel of taking political “cheap shots” against the conservative government in Budapest.
Maximilian Teleki complained that Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland issued “one-sided, poorly informed” criticism of the Hungarian government in a Senate speech earlier this month.
“It is high time we agree that well-informed, balanced, constructive criticism between friends within our democratic family is a good thing …,” Mr. Teleki said in a letter to the coalition’s 18 member organizations.
“However, we need to call one-sided, poorly informed statements for what they are: Overt and unambiguous attempts by agenda-driven individuals to score ’cheap shots.’
“I wish I could say the criticisms were ignorant, but sadly they are not. The are calculated and politically driven.”
Mr. Cardin, co-chairman of the congressional Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe, complained in his remarks about several measures promoted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
He accused Mr. Orban of supporting policies that threaten freedom of the press, the independence of the judiciary and Hungary’s relations with its neighbors in Central Europe.
Those “developments in Hungary have cast a dark shadow over what should otherwise be happy occasions,” Mr. Cardin said July 5, referring to ceremonies in Budapest to honor former President Ronald Reagan and Tom Lantos, the late Hungarian-born member of Congress and Holocaust survivor.
Mr. Cardin said a new media law could be use to “silence critical” opinion and public debate because the measure concentrates “power in regulatory agencies.”
He complained about a “court-packing scheme” that expands the number of judges on the Constitutional Court from 11 to 15.
Mr. Cardin also warned that Hungary could anger its neighbors by granting Hungarian citizenship to the residents of other countries.
He accused the government of “an excessive fixation on Hungarian ethnic identity beyond the borders.”
After the fall of communism in 1989, Hungary was an “inspiration” for advocates of democracy and human rights worldwide, Mr. Cardin added.
“Today,” he said, “I am deeply troubled by the trends there.”
DIPLOMATIC TRAFFIC
Foreign visitors in Washington this week include:
Monday
• Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos of Greece, who holds talks at the International Monetary Fund and discusses Greece’s financial crisis in a speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
• An Israeli delegation with retired Col. Shaul Arieli; retired Maj. Gen. Shlomo Gazit, former head of military intelligence; Alon Pinkas, former consul-general in New York and foreign policy adviser to former Prime Minister Ehud Barak; and Gilead Sher, former chief of staff for Mr. Barak. They participate in a forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Tuesday
• Chouchou Namegabe Dubuisson of the Association of Female Journalists of South Kivu in the Congo; Missak Kasongo of Security Congo; Catherine Kathungu of the French Association of Female Jurists for Women’s Rights; Dismas Kitenge of Group Lotus; Annie Chebeya Mangbenga, widow of slain human rights leader Floribert Chebeya; and Donat MBaya of Journalists in Danger. They discuss the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a forum at the National Endowment for Democracy.
Wednesday
• Deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hoyer of Germany and Harald Leibrecht, a member of the German parliament and coordinator for transatlantic cooperation in the German Foreign Ministry, address the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
• Call Embassy Row at 202/636-3297 or email jmorrison@washingtontimes.com. The column is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
• James Morrison can be reached at jmorrison@washingtontimes.com.
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