Pressman may be behind the US tightening

Apparently, talks between the Hungarian and US sides were progressing well, but the ambassador intervened, our source says.

Budapest, 2023. július 15. David Pressman, az Egyesült Államok budapesti nagykövete országa zászlajával a kezében a 28. Budapest Pride résztvevõi között a Városligetben 2023. július 15-én. MTI/Kovács Tamás Fotó: Kovács Tamás

Pressman, who arrived in Budapest barely a year ago as President Joe Biden's personal appointee, has had a scandalous record of service here, marked more by a war of words than by any diplomatic results. Observers of Hungary-US ties cannot recall any ambassador - Democrat or Republican - who has had such bad relations with any Hungarian government since 1990. (In the 2010s, André Goodfriend, who also left some bad memories behind, ran the mission in downtown Budapest as an acting ambassador). A diplomatic source told us that while Mr Pressman would like to see PM Viktor Orban - something he hasn't managed in the course of eleven months - and meet Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (with whom he has had one or two meetings already), he appears unfazed by, and uninterested in the nitty-gritty of everyday diplomacy. - So far ha has not reciprocated the Hungarian gesture, our source said, referring to the fact that the Hungarian government was conspicuously well represented at the US national holiday, in a bid to ease political tensions between the two sides. Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen and Interior Minister Sandor Pintér were both present at the July 4 reception.

In addition, the situation could be even worse, which is why our sources hope that the current US travel sanctions punishing Hungarians are only a temporary measure, and that Hungarian citizens will soon be able to return to the full range of visa-free travel to the US (for up to 90 days). The nightmare, so to speak, is the reintroduction of the pre-2009 visa requirement, as tourist visas are much more expensive (currently costing USD 185, or some 67,000 forints) and cumbersome to obtain than an EFTA visa, which cost pennies. That said, in June, 755 visas were issued at the US consulate in Budapest, most of them type 'B' visas for tourists and businessmen. According to the latest data (2022), the of refusal rate for 'B' visas applied for in Budapest stands at 8.44 percent. Allegedly, Hungarian diplomacy is also trying to prevent the introduction of a visa requirement, because it would force an appropriate response, something that would further distance the two sides. 

Cover photo: David Pressman, US Ambassador to Hungary, holding a US flag among participants of the 28th Budapest Pride parade in Budapest's City Park on July 15, 2023 (Photo: MTI/Tamas Kovács)