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Pompeo seeks to end Hungary’s eastward drift on Europe trip
WASHINGTON, Feb 9, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is
hoping to stall inroads of Russian and Chinese influence as he visits two of
the European Union’s most quarrelsome members, Hungary and Poland.
The top US diplomat arrives Monday in Hungary and will also visit Slovakia
and Poland, in each NATO ally highlighting Washington’s role in the fall of
communism 30 years ago.
Poland, eager for a strong US relationship amid a resurgent Russia, is
teaming up with Pompeo to hold a two-day conference on the Middle East, which
has drawn limited interest as Europeans balk at President Donald Trump’s
hawkish line on Iran.
Hungary has drawn especially deep concerns among Western powers as Prime
Minister Viktor Orban shows growing authoritarianism, buddies up with Russian
President Vladimir Putin despite Western worries over Ukraine and willfully
exercises Hungary’s veto within the 28-member EU.
A US official said Pompeo will raise concerns about Orban’s support for
the Russian-backed TurkStream gas pipeline, Moscow’s financing of the Paks
nuclear plant in Hungary — and especially the country’s agreement to let
Huawei develop its 5G mobile networks, as Washington accuses the Chinese
telecom giant of undermining global security.
– Populist praise for Trump –
The right-wing leaders of Poland and Hungary have been among the few
Europeans to praise Trump, sharing his hard line against refugees, his
extolling of Christian values and his antipathy toward the power of
multilateral bodies such as the EU.
The Trump administration initially welcomed engagement with Orban, who
received the cold shoulder from former US president Barack Obama, but
concerns have mounted in Washington that Hungary has moved no closer into the
US orbit.
Last year, Hungary disappointed the United States by sending two suspected
Russian arms dealers wanted by Washington back home.
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And despite the US ambassador’s intervention, Budapest’s renowned Central
European University last year said it was moving key programs to Vienna due
to tough requirements imposed by Orban on institutions it considers foreign.
The university was founded by US-Hungarian billionaire philanthropist
George Soros, an outspoken proponent of liberal values, who is vilified by
the far-right in both countries with imagery that is at times anti-Semitic.
The State Department said that Pompeo would not shy away from raising
concerns with Orban and would meet in Hungary with civil society groups.
Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas scoffed at Pompeo’s meeting with
non-governmental groups, telling reporters: “If a US foreign minister meets
organizations receiving support from America, then no one should be surprised
about that.”
– ‘Show up or lose’ –
The US official adamantly defended engagement with Hungary, saying the
Obama administration paid too little attention to Central Europe while Putin
visited Budapest twice last year alone.
“We have to show up or expect to lose,” the official said.
“Those vacuums that were created by the US not being more strongly present
in these places, they do get filled and they have gotten filled,” he said.
But Joerg Forbrig, an expert on Central Europe at the German Marshall Fund
of the United States, said that Orban is a wily politician who knows that
Washington has even less leverage over him than the EU, which he has defied
for years despite the bloc’s power of the purse over Hungary.
“This small country called Hungary, whether it’s on Western values or
traditional partnerships or existing integration schemes like NATO and the
EU, they are completely spitting at this, and very consciously,” Forbrig
said.
He doubted that the United States and European Union could coordinate much
on Hungary in light of Trump’s poor relationships with major European allies
such as Germany and France.
“I’m not sure Orban will be quite laughing Pompeo out the door, but I’m
not sure he’s taking his trip very seriously,” Forbrig said.
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