9/02/2018 – AHF SUCCESSFUL IN HELPING REDUCE U.S. INTERFERENCE WITH HUNGARY’S MEDIA AND OTHER DOMESTIC POLICIES
AHF’s efforts to block a State Department grant of $700,000 to fund media opposition groups in Hungary paid off when it was reported in the New York Times on August 18, 2018, that the funds would not be used in Hungary but instead would be redirected into other State Department programs. The article also discusses an overall change in U.S. diplomatic relations with Hungary urged by AHF that will be more respectful of a strong democratic NATO ally.
Background of AHF’s Efforts
On April 2, 2018, representatives of the American Hungarian Federation (AHF) met with State Department officials, Matthew Palmer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Ivan S. Weinstein, Hungarian Desk Officer, to discuss matters of mutual interest to improve bilateral relations between the United States and Hungary.
The hour-long meeting was a follow up to AHF’s letter last year to Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell objecting to a funding proposal by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of $700,000 of U.S. taxpayers money to private groups in Hungary to establish a media resource to counter what the State Department contends is one-sided press coverage of Hungary’s government and policies.
AHF’s Wess Mitchell letter was followed up by a meeting last December with Congressman Andy Harris, co-chair of the Hungarian Caucus, opposing the media funding proposal.
Other topics discussed included Ukraine’s education law curtailing Hungarian and other ethnic minorities to be educated in their mother tongue, the subject of AHF’s letter last year to then- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
AHF representatives attending the meeting were Frank Koszorus, Jr., Chair of AHF’s Board and International Relations Committee (IRC), Paul Kamenar AHF’s General Counsel and member of IRC, and Dr. Imre Nemeth, AHF Vice-President and member of IRC.
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