The ambassador accuses others of undermining democracy, while the opposition candidate in his own country is running his campaign in constant danger, Balázs Orbán pointed out.
For the fourth time, the two-day Budapest Forum was jointly organized by CEU's Institute of Democracy, Political Capital and the Capital City Municipality.
David Pressman, the ambassador of the United States, also spoke on the opening day.
"When I was preparing for this mission, I received a lot of advice: never forget to admire the beauty of Budapest, especially at night, be careful with the flame because it is addictive and pay attention not to what the government says, but to what it does," began his speech American ambassador.
According to Pressman, we are already at the point where we "question whether Hungary is really a democracy".
He considers the functioning civil society and the free media to be the two pillars of the democratic system, but in his view, it is precisely these two that he believes have been the subject of a serious attack by the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty in recent months.
The office has launched three investigations so far, the ambassador recalled, one against Transparency International, which described the country as the most corrupt state in the EU, one against the independent newspaper Átlátszó, which explores corruption cases, and one against civilians investigating the influence of battery factories. In addition to all this, the head of the office stated that only governments can act against corruption, not NGOs - Pressman referred back to the words of Tamás Lánczi.
The office is definitely trying to protect something, but it is not Hungarian sovereignty," said the ambassador regarding the work of the office.
Péter Szijjártó previously called the American ambassador, who often criticizes Hungarian domestic politics, an opposition activist.
"The American ambassador in Budapest is an opposition activist, one of the leading figures of the Hungarian opposition, and his statements should be evaluated accordingly," said the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The ambassador accuses others of undermining democracy, while the opposition candidate in his own country is running his campaign in constant danger, the prime minister's political adviser pointed out. Balázs Orbán stated:
"This also shows that it is not easy to be a friend of the Democratic administration these days. But for our part, we don't give up, we keep trying!"
"Ambassador Pressman spoke at CEU today. We followed closely. It sounded more like an indictment of the Soros empire than a neutral diplomatic opinion. Mr. Ambassador accuses others of reducing democracy, while in his own country the opposition candidate is running his campaign in constant danger to his life," Balázs Orbán wrote in his Facebook post.
According to the political director, Pressman "accuses others of political interference, while he marches in the front row at mass political events in Hungary, openly instructs the opposition figures in Hungarian public life, and the dollars from his political circles flow nicely to the Hungarian opposition. He accuses others of acting unworthy of an ally, while the danger of the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian war taking place in our immediate neighborhood is increasing every day due to, among other things, his own government's pro-war policy".
Cover image: David Pressman openly threatens Hungary
Source: X/David Pressman
