Viktor Orbán completes ‘record-breaking’ diplomatic schedule
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Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has completed “a record-breaking diplomatic schedule” in the past month and met some of the most important world leaders, the state secretary for communications said on Wednesday.
Orbán’s recent meeting partners included the German chancellor, the prime ministers of China and Israel, the presidents of Russia and Turkey and he had a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump, with whom he also exchanged a few words personally during a NATO summit, Tamás Menczer told a press conference.
“All of which means that world leaders pay attention to the Hungarian prime minister and consider him a central European premier whose opinion is important and worth listening to,” he said.
Political opponents have criticised the government for isolating Hungary in terms of diplomacy, yet these meetings showed that the opposite is true, he added.
Menczer said people were paying attention because the Orbán government had broken with the opposition’s diplomatic stance of “we dare to be small”.
“We are respectful but we also have reciprocal expectations,” he said.
The government, he continued, had always acted to defend Hungarian interests. “It doesn’t seek out conflicts, neither does it shrink from them.”
Furthermore, Orbán’s government has responded well to international challenges, he said, insisting that Orbán had been the first European leader to recognise the dangers of illegal immigration and to act swiftly to protect the country.