New US sanctions against Hungary: a lot of people can be banned soon

A new draft of sanctions targets several Hungarian political figures and officials close to the government of Orbán’s Fidesz party. The legislation focuses on corruption, and it has to be accepted by Congress.

New sanctions in the pipe: Hungarian citizens will not be able to enter the USA

According to the Hungarian version of Szabad Európa (Free Europe), placing the Budapest-based Russian International Investment Bank’s (IIB) Hungarian vice-chairman, Imre Laszlóczki, on the latest American sanctions list was just the first step. The US ambassador to Budapest, David Pressman, said that “the presence of this opaque Kremlin platform in the heart of Hungary threatens the security and sovereignty of the Hungarian people, their European neighbours, and their NATO Allies.” Here is his announcement:

The new bill aims to ban people who are part of serious corruption and/or severely harm human rights. The legislation started last autumn and will affect Hungarian nationals, Washington officials told Szabad Európa. However, it will require a majority in Congress where the House of Representatives is dominated by Republicans. The Orbán cabinet has good relations with the Conservatives. However, Guardian writes that the draft is expected to enjoy broad support.

Dalibor Rohac, the leading analyst of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, said it was high time to do so. “Probably that is the only language the Orbán government understands”. Of course, not only Hungarians would be concerned. Earlier, America banned the former Slovakian prosecutor general, Dobroslav Trnka, and four government-close Georgian judges.

American-Hungarian relationship close to nadir

Ferenc Vukics, a military expert and a founder of the Nemzetvédelmi Szabadegyetem Alapítvány, said that putting Mr Laszlóczki on the sanctions list was a first message to the other US allies; in the first place, French President Macron. He suggested after a visit to China that Europe should find its path instead of following the USA unconditionally. He believes Washington wants everybody to do what their elite deems right.

The 2022 human rights report of the American Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning Hungary was devastating. They said that “while the government took some steps to identify, investigate, prosecute and punish officials who committed human rights abuses, action against high-level, politically connected corruption was limited.” Furthermore, Hungary was the EU’s most corrupt state in 2022, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index found.

In October 2014, the USA banned six Hungarian officials and public people, including the head of the national tax office. The reason was concerns about corruption. Then the US Chargé d’Affaire in Budapest, André Goodfriend, did not share any names.

Leaked Pentagon documents presented this week that PM Viktor Orbán views the Bide administration as his greatest adversary.