“It is unacceptable for Hungarians and their democratically elected government to be disparaged,” said Levente Magyar, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, in his statement to the Hungarian public media on Friday.
Levente Magyar said this in response to Karl Pachner’s recent Facebook post. Pachner, one of the leaders of the Austrian national public service broadcaster (ORF) wrote in a since deleted post that, “it would be a respectable thing” for Viktor Orbán to suffer a heart attack.
Levente Magyar expressed the Hungarian government’s concerns to the Chargé d’Affaires of the Austrian Embassy:
The Hungarian government is deeply displeased over the fact that yesterday one of the senior staff members of the Austrian state media described Hungary’s democratically-elected and widely-supported Prime Minister with words that are uniquely harsh and scandalous, even compared to the current tense European political discourse, and thereby offending every Hungarian.
“It was necessary to hold the Austrian government’s representative accountable; he, in fact, distanced himself from the statement and expressed his intentions to cooperate,” added Levente Magyar.
I have made it clear however, that in the future we will not be able to deal with statements such as this so simply. These statements go beyond the norms of European civilization, even during a period of war – when we should otherwise be working our hardest to cooperate and overcome the challenges posed by war,
– explained the Deputy Minister.
He added:
We strive for good relations with Austria, but we will not allow Austrians nor any other foreign players to disparage us Hungarians and our democratically-elected government.
Photo: Levente Magyar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (Photo: MTI)
