We are especially pleased that he was able to come to Budapest today. We went over the most important issues in the trans-Atlantic context, with special regard to Hungary’s European Union presidency and the requirements and consequences coming from that; we naturally discussed the West Balkans, we discussed the preparations for the NATO summit, we discussed Afghanistan, we discussed energy, energy security and a number of other issues. Now I’d rather let my colleague speak, and perhaps after that I may still have the opportunity to speak about concrete issues.

Deputy Secretary Steinberg:
Thank you Mr. Minister. It is a delight, a pleasure to be here. Let me begin first by expressing condolences for the terrible loss of life from this environmental incident you are experiencing. We in the United States stand ready to help in any way we can and have very strong sympathy for the people here and the loss that has been experienced.

For me, it is a great pleasure to be back in Budapest. I spent some time here in the early 90’s during that wonderful period of the restoration of democracy in Hungary. I’m delighted to see the vibrancy and health of democracy here today. This is a wonderful story and it is a story to Europe and to the world about the achievements; and the successful elections that you just had really remind us of what a valued partner Hungary is in so many ways and a country that shares our values as well as our interests.

It was a great opportunity for me to have a chance to explore with the Minister how we can continue to work together even more effectively in the future. We did discuss and I expressed appreciation for the strong role that Hungary is playing in Afghanistan and Kosovo; the importance of a country which is now not just importing but providing security to others and playing such a critical role on the global stage.

We talked about how we can continue to work together to ensure the success of that mission. We talked about the exciting agenda of Hungary’s upcoming EU presidency, working together on issues of counter-terrorism, on issues of energy security and the important leadership that Hungary is playing on the Eastern Partnership initiative and our strong support for Hungary’s efforts in that respect. We discussed the Western-Balkans and the importance of our working together, the partnership between the United States and the EU to help all of the countries of the Western-Balkans achieve their rightful place in the European and trans-Atlantic structures and how we can work together to ensure that comes about.

I expressed appreciation for the leadership role Hungary is playing on the issue of Roma integration which is something that is a very important issue for all of us. Hungary has shown great leadership on that as well.

So all and all we had a really rich exchange of views and look forward to the upcoming NATO summit as a chance to reaffirm the central importance of NATO as part of our common security as well as our partnership on the other issues we discussed today.

Foreign Minister János Martonyi:
…to continue as I promised earlier. The visit is also very important because it makes clear that the United States’ interest in Central Europe, and within that, in Hungary is, unchanged and strong. That said, we are of course aware that European integration of the Western Balkans is primarily a European task, and for the countries of the Western Balkans the most important factor regarding stability is that they have the prospect of membership in the European Union.

At the same time, however, and I’ve called attention to that in the discussions today, it is essential that the United States continue to be present in the region and assist in this process. We are confident and certain that the interest of the United States both in Central Europe and in the Western Balkans is not decreasing. This visit and today’s talks are an evidence of that. Another observation I’d like to make is regarding trans-Atlantic relations. We feel that in the current global system, trans-Atlantic relations have an increasing significance.

We speak a lot about the big changes and transformations that are taking place in the world now, but we speak less about the fact that in view of these changes the significance of the trans-Atlantic cohesion and alliance is not decreasing but rather increasing. This is what we will establish in the meeting of NATO’s Foreign and Defense Ministers next week, and the Lisbon NATO Summit is also very likely to come to the same conclusion. All the talks the Deputy Secretary is now conducting in the region, I think, are laying the foundations for these conclusions. Thank you.

MTI question: You are visiting Slovakia today. Did you discuss some problematic questions between Hungary and Slovakia, the Slovak State Language Law and the Hungarian dual citizenship question?

Deputy Secretary Steinberg:
Well, what we did discuss was the enhancing of regional cooperation on the many challenges that the countries of this region face. I’m having the opportunity on this visit to visit three of the Visegrád Four. I’ve been encouraged and am learning from the Minister the efforts of all these countries in this region [to] address common challenges whether it’s energy security or dealing with the Western Balkans or strengthening our trans-Atlantic ties so in that sense we talk about the cooperation between Hungary and Slovakia as partners in dealing with these common challenges as well as partners of the United States.

MTI: What did you say with regard to the European Union’s Eastern Partnership Program? Next year we’ll have the perhaps most important summit, that of the Eastern Partnership Program.…

Deputy Secretary Steinberg:
Well, I’m very encouraged and excited about this initiative by Hungary because I think it is critically important that we continue to fulfill our vision of a healthy integrated Europe that gives opportunities to all the countries of Europe, particularly to those to the East of our partners now in NATO and the European Union; we have strong ties to many of those countries as well, but in partnership, having the idea of putting energy behind this and working for ways to strengthen ties between Europe and its Eastern neighbors is really critical for the economic interests of Europe as well as the countries themselves, for security in the region and for building a Europe that is whole and free. So I think this is a timely and important initiative and the United States is very pleased to be a friend of this process and we intend to participate very actively in supporting Hungary in this initiative.

Viktor Janzsó, Magyar Hirlap: Minister, has the issue of the increased terrorist threat in Europe come up in your discussions, and if so, is there information available on to what extent it affects Hungary or the Central European region?

Foreign Minister János Martonyi:
We did not specifically discuss the terrorist threat, and I think what is important here is that we keep calm and at the same time strengthen our cooperation in the area of fighting terrorism in the trans-Atlantic framework, in European frameworks, in global frameworks. I ask everyone to keep calm, the respective authorities are doing their job; they are cooperating with each other, and I believe under the current circumstances the task is to keep calm among the public, and naturally, the threat is always there and that’s what the authorities are for, to fight it.

Deputy Secretary Steinberg:
If I could just add that first of all I echo the Minister’s sentiments, I think he put it exactly right. I think the fact that I’m here and that many of my colleagues are visiting Europe for important meetings is a reflection of the fact that that we do think there is no reason for people to change plans or take any out of the ordinary measures; the purpose was simply to urge vigilance and caution but we are certainly not trying to dissuade people from going about their normal business. That’s what we are doing; it’s important that we share when we can if we have reasons to be concerned with others but we’ve also been very careful and very measured in what we had to say, so I think it is important that people look at what was exactly said by our spokespeople and follow the words of the Minister, which is to take this with appropriate measure of calmness and to continue to work together.

What is important is that we do have to recognize that beyond the specifics here is that there is a threat that it’s a common threat the United States and Europe face together, and our cooperation on these issues has never been better and I think one of the things that has been the most valuable about this whole experience is that it’s an opportunity to highlight the strong cooperation and coordination between the United States and Europe on dealing with the problem of terrorism."

Source: U.S. Embassy Budapest

Photo: Deputy Secretary Steinberg and Foreign Minister Martonyi shake hands. (Embassy photo by Attila Németh)