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

The tightening of restrictions on the entry of Hungarian citizens into the US announced on Tuesday caused surprise even at the top managerial level of Hungary's state administration, a senior official told Magyar Nemzet, requesting anonymity. Another source close to the government claims that Ambassador David Pressman's recent decision was the reason why Washington had toughened its stance - at least this is how it's perceived by the Hungarian side.

Previously, talks on this sensitive issue appeared to be progressing well with the Americans, even though Hungarians are not willing to share the details of dual-citizen Hungarians living abroad (certainly not en masse), while the US demands security guarantees in reference to the more than 1 million Hungarian passports of dual citizens naturalized in the 2010s. Initially, Washington wanted to obtain the personal details of all dual nationals - although they would hardly give out any such information in a reverse situation, as it's a clear violation of data protection rules. After a while, however, they realized that this was impossible and they backed down, only to toughen up one again.

One of our sources says that the Americans have checked the details of 80-85 individuals on a case-by-case basis, so to say that Hungarians are not cooperating with US diplomats is untrue.

The US embassy claims that the tightening of the conditions of the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) for all Hungarian citizens was necessary because the Hungarian government "has not addressed the concerns raised and has not taken action to ensure that all aspects of the VWP (Visa Waiver Program) requirements are met".

Hungary has acted on every single specific US law enforcement request, criminal prosecutions have been carried out and those found in violation of the law have been stripped of their Hungarian citizenship, so the statement of the US State Department's spokesman is false and misleading,

– said Bence Retvari, the parliamentary state secretary at the interior ministry, reacting to Matthew Miller's statement. Previously, the US State Department's spokesperson had underlined that the tightening was necessary, as criminals were able to obtain Hungarian passports because the identity verification of Hungarian citizenship applicants was inadequate ahead of the introduction of biometric passports in Hungary, in 2020.

As Magyar Nemzet already highlighted in a previous article, the ESTA for Hungarians is now valid for one year instead of two, and it's limited to a one-time use. This means that if someone crosses the Canadian border to see Niagara Falls from the north, they will not be able to return to the US with the same ESTA. And people born outside Hungary's current state borders cannot obtain an ESTA at all. They need a US visa to enter America, irrespective of whether they were born in Romania or, say, the Netherlands - but there's no change in this department. 

Scandal Diplomacy 

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)