Before the vote McCain strongly urged his colleagues to reject the nominee as “totally unqualified” for the post of ambassador to Hungary, which is a “very important country where bad things are going on”.

“I am not against political appointees . . . I understand how the game is played”, he said “but here we are, a nation that is on the verge of ceding its sovereignty to a neo-fascist dictator getting in bed with Vladimir Putin and we’re going to send the producer of ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ as the ambassador”.

McCain declared “there is no doubt” that since Prime Minister Viktor Orbán took power in 2010 he has centralised power, reduced judicial independence, made controversial changes to the constitution and attacked NGOs.

He also mentioned the rapprochement with Russia and the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant, Népszabadság reports.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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Statement by  Senator McCain expressing concern about democracy and rule of law in Hungary