Head of the foreign affairs committee hails US election as ‘victory for democracy’

Brussels, January 23 (MTI) – The US presidential election was a “victory for democracy” since voters managed to overcome “financial, media and bureaucratic barriers”, Zsolt Németh, head of the foreign affairs committee of Hungary’s parliament, told MTI by phone from Strasbourg on Monday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE), Nemeth said the institution of democracy in the United States was undergoing transformation and America had “passed an important and exemplary test”.

“Hopefully in Europe, too, democracy in the future will be based on values and responsibility rather than on ideologies,” he said.

“Europe continues to count on America in undertaking to settle “serious security challenges from the east and south”, he added.

Addressing the assembly, Németh said that the recent Macedonian and Bulgarian elections had demonstrated that “democracy functions in those countries”. He said that the European Union had failed to pay appropriate attention to the Balkans, and there were hitches in enlargement, too. More heed should be given to the region so as to prevent a return to previous tensions, he said.

The Parliamentary Assembly expressed condolences to relatives of the victims of the 16 Hungarians who had died in a bus crash in Italy late on Friday.

Németh, as head of the Hungarian delegation, was confirmed in his post as one of the 16 vice-presidents of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly on Monday.

Source: MTI