BUDAPEST, Hungary — In an exclusive interview with Breitbart London, Hungarian government spokesman Zoltán Kovács talked about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and how Hungary feels abandoned by the Obama administration.
Mr. Kovács was asked which candidate he and his government see as the most favourable for Hungary and for tackling the crisis of migration that currently affects both Europe and America.
“If it’s about migration, which seems to be the most acute challenge we face, it’s definitely true that Mr. Trump and the conservative philosophy on migration is a lot closer to us,” he said adding, “It is basically representing what we think about it. Therefore in terms of that element of foreign policy: Trump.”
Mr. Kovács was quick to note that he and his government in Hungary would not officially endorse either candidate as that it was neither their custom nor their policy to interfere in the elections of sovereign nations.
“But no endorsement, it’s too early and we’ve never done anything like that,” he said. “Before an election, it would be most impolite to do anything like that as one of them will become one of our most important allies and strategic partners around the globe.”
However, Kovács did intimate that he was not as keen on the past few years of the Obama administration’s dealing with Hungary and the Central European region.
“My first-hand experience, the experience of the government, [is that] the U.S. has lost interest, and probably with it, knowledge about the region. Europe in general, but most certainly about Central Europe.”
“Knowledge and understanding is really needed to re-engage and reinforce this partnership. I’m being polite and diplomatic for obvious reasons here because again; from the Hungarian perspective, America was there, was helping us and is a major ally,” he said.
The Hungarian government spokesman alluded to the attitudes of both the Obama administration and Democratic candidate for president Hillary Clinton on their heavily anti-Russia stances. Ms. Clinton at her famous “alt-right” speech declared that Russian president Vladimir Putin was the mastermind behind the various populist and patriotic movements around the world.
“We are grateful that we have received back our democracy and freedom, but we have surpassed the Cold War and it’s not the Cold War anymore,” Mr. Kovács said.
“So you have to rethink and in that respect there are lots of things that should be done, discussed, or re-discussed. Hungarian history, history of Central Europe, attitudes toward Russia and other parts of the European Union.
“In that, we see now the urgent need to re-engage, and that’s not been happening so it’s not been easy for the past couple of years.”
The Hungarian government has been the most engaged in Europe on tackling the migrant Crisis over the past two years, with Viktor Orban’s right-wing administration erecting fences on their southern borders to prevent the hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants using the Balkan route continuing north into Western Europe.
Mr. Orban has also been at the forefront of campaigning within the European Union, as part of the Visegrad group of nations including Poland, the Czechia and Slovakia, to control Europe’s external borders and to prevent the mandatory redistribution of migrants to EU member states. In a recent referendum, Mr. Orban held on the subject, 98 per cent of Hungarians said they didn’t want the European Union to be able to force migrants on their country.
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