William Penn Life, 2006 (41. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
2006-07-01 / 7. szám
Bush in Budapest President’s visit raises old & new concerns among Hungarians President Bush meets with Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány at the Hungarian Parliament building in Budapest June 22. White House photo by Eric Draper. by Duncan Welch, The Budapest Sun HUNGARIAN Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány kept the day's meetings friendly and diplomatic during U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Hungary June 22. He did not push issues that many Hungarians see as key to the continued good relations between the two countries, or pursue the question of alleged human rights abuses in relation to Guantánamo Bay. On the issues of visa requirements for Hungarians wishing to travel to the U.S., and on the lack of U.S. support during the 1956 revolution, Gyurcsány left the hard talking to Hungarian President László Sólyom. Gyurcsány said that no progress was expected in the lifting of visa requirements, as such a decision was not up to Bush, but was rather a matter that would be decided by the U.S. Congress. During Bush's trip to Vienna for the U.S.-E.U. summit a day before the state visit to Budapest, the question of human rights had been raised, but Gyurcsány said, "We have to do away with the false interpretation that Europe represents morality and the U.S. efficiency and force." Force and morality, he said, should go together. Sólyom, however, a lawyer by training and former president of the Constitutional Court, took a firmer stance when meeting Bush in the Sándor Palace. "The war on terror can be successful only if human rights are respected," he said during the meeting. He also welcomed an agreement signed by the U.S. and the E.U. stipulating that the war on terrorism will take note of human rights and be consistent with international law. President Sólyom also said that Hungary wanted the U.S. to cancel its visa requirement for Hungarians. During his visit, Bush addressed the issue, saying "I understand this is a difficult issue. We have developed a roadmap to work through this," though he gave no indication of when a visa waiver may be implemented. This issue was also taken up by Foreign Minister Kinga Göncz, who told the press the day before Bush's visit that it was important for visa relations between the U.S. and E.U. countries to advance. "Hungary has ground to cover in this process as well," Göncz said, referring to the high rate of rejected visa applications and overstays, which the U.S. says must be lowered before it grants any waiver. Göncz also reiterated that Hungary had no involvement in CIA prisoner transport operations, despite claims made last week by Amnesty International which said it had evidence that Hungary had violated as many as eight laws by allowing CIA planes across its airspace and to land in the country. Toward the end of Bush's visit, he gave an address on Gellért Hill (excerpts on next page), and said Hungary was a role model for Iraq, that it represented a triumph of liberty over tyranny and that he was proud to have met, that day, three Hungarians who had fought against the Soviets. That uprising was crushed, he told the 300 gathered guests and journalists, but the Hungarian people's thirst for freedom was not. "The lesson of the Hungarian experience is clear: Liberty can be delayed but it cannot be denied." The President said free nations have an obligation to help others to that same freedom. Lauding Hungary for its efforts in peacekeeping in Kosovo and sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, he thanked Hungary for its efforts in helping the U.S. and its coalition partners. Hungarian-born American political scientist Charles Gati, in an article in The Washington Post June 22, however, wrote that Bush should speak honestly about America's role during the 1956 Hungarian uprising, 6 William Penn Life, July 2006
