English
As the election campaign in Hungary draws to a close, US President Donald Trump pledged to help the Hungarian economy – under current Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
My administration stands ready to use the full economic might of the United States to strengthen Hungary’s economy, as we have done for our great allies in the past, if Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Hungarian people ever need it. We are excited to invest in the future prosperity that will be generated by Orban’s continued leadership, Trump said in his latest statement of support for the right wing leader of Hungary.
Meanwhile, Republican congressmen Chris Smith and Andy Harris issued an open letter to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, calling out the long standing EU interference in Hungarian politics. This interference, according to the congressmen, includes funding politically biased NGO groups and activists in Hungary, using its social media censorship directive to silence right wing voices in Hungarya and the partisan use of rule-of-law procedures.
The cumulative effect is to create the appearance that EU institutions seek to strongly shape the political environment of a member state during a democratic election. Taken together, these dynamics raise serious concerns regarding the boundary between legitimate EU oversight and authoritarian political intervention, deeply destructive of public confidence in the fairness of the electoral process and in the neutrality of European institutions, the letter states.
Congressmen Smith and Harris called on the European Commission to provide transparency in the use of its digital media directives and to disclose its NGO funding to Hungary.