Professor raises concerns about Hungary's ruling party

“I do not remember Budapest receiving so much criticism from Washington as it currently is since the change of regime,” reports Politics.hu quoting Eastern Europe expert and professor at Washington’s John Hopkins University Charles Gati. He said even former MIÉP chairman István Csurka in 1992 and 2001 never created the antipathy that is currently felt for Fidesz.

Gati added that it was a false assumption that the US government supports the so-called left-wing. For example, the then US ambassador harried Ferenc Gyurcsány on energy issues for years, and time and again they were barely on speaking terms.

Although Tamás Deutsch’s recent obscene remark on Twitter drew a small amount of attention, the “unprecedented, ignorant, forceful and conceited” statement of prime ministerial spokesman Péter Szijjártó is noteworthy, “because we can assume that he speaks on behalf of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán,” Gati said.

Gati was presumably referring to Szijjártó’s responses to a critical op-ed piece written by US ambassador Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis and to remarks by US assistant undersecretary of state Thomas Melia.

He said the electoral bill will be a watershed, because if it places obstacles in the way of an opposition coalition gaining power, tough US countermeasures should be expected.