Deputy Speaker of Hungarian Parliament Gulyás holds talks in Washington

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Gergely Gulyás met members of the US House of Representatives and leaders of civil organisations on the first day of a three-day visit to Washington, DC on Wednesday.

Aiming to discuss US-Hungarian relations and the challenges facing the EU and NATO “in as wide a circle as possible”, Gulyas held talks with Republican Congressmen Chris Smith of New Jersey, Dennis Ross of Florida and Steve King of Iowa as well as Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Ohio. He also met the deputy head of the Heritage Foundation, the head of the Family Research Council and representatives of other organisations.

Speaking to MTI by phone late on Wednesday local time, Gulyás said that a bipartisan delegation of the House of Representatives is to visit Hungary in autumn.

US-Hungarian cooperation is optimal in economic and security policy as well as on military issues, but diplomatic ties are “lagging sorely behind”, Gulyás said. The approach of the past eight years’ Democratic administration, which “placed ideological questions before practical matters and intruded unduly into the inner politics of many countries”, still holds sway over Washington’s foreign policy, Gulyás said.