Hungary-US ties: US Ambassador Colleen Bell briefed Hungarian lawmakers

Budapest, May 5 (MTI) – There are appreciable changes in Hungarian-US ties and this is thanks to a sharing of interests in several areas, Zsolt Németh, head of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said on Thursday.

On migration, one of the subjects addressed at the closed-door hearing at which US Ambassador Colleen Bell briefed lawmakers, Németh said that notwithstanding criticism at a rhetorical level, Hungary and the United States essentially had the same approach.

The US protects its southern borders “in more or less the same way as Hungary protects its own borders to the south,” he said. The EU should protect its southern borders, too, he added.

There is also a shared conviction that the so-called Islamic State terrorist organisation is the force behind migration, and firm steps taken against IS includes troop deployments, he said.

Hungarian-US relations also centre around their relationship as allies within NATO and shared views on security policy, Németh said, referring to the importance of heightened cooperation ahead of the forthcoming NATO summit in Warsaw. Although neither NATO nor the US plan to station any troops in Hungary, a small command headquarters of 40 men will be established, he noted.