Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts receives high Hungarian state award

Kevin Roberts, the president of the US conservative Heritage Foundation, was decorated with a high Hungarian state award in recognition of his role in bolstering Hungarian-US relations, in Washington, DC on Monday.

The Heritage Foundation is now one of the most influential think tanks in the US Republican camp, close to Trump, and is now one of the former president’s strategy-making centres.

Roberts highly esteems Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government, calling him an impressive leader. He has been to Hungary several times, including as a guest of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC). Kevin Roberts held a panel discussion with Viktor Orbán in March, read about it here.

Hungary’s ambassador in Washington initiated the award. Zsolt Németh, the head of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, presented Roberts with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary, Civilian Division, on behalf of President Tamás Sulyok.

Szabolcs Takács, Hungary’s ambassador to the US, told MTI that Roberts received the award in recognition of his “central role” in fostering relations between Hungarian and American conservative institutions and personalities. It had been as part of this relationship, he added, that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave a talk at the Heritage Foundation’s headquarters during his visit to the US in March.

Roberts said Hungary had a role in the US’ conservative renewal, particularly with its policy of putting the nation-state and sovereignty first.

Viktor Orbán is one of the few world leaders who clearly backed Trump in the last and next elections. Many accuse him of meddling in the internal affairs of the United States while expecting everyone to stay out of Hungary’s internal affairs. One thing is for sure, the November election has high stakes for the Hungarian government, as either the frosty relationship with the United States, one of the world’s largest economies, continues, or a friendly relationship with Trump’s leadership develops.

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