SECRETARY POMPEO: Thanks, Peter.
It’s an honor to be in Hungary as my first trip here as the Secretary of State, meeting
with Prime Minister Orban and Defense Minister Benko.
Peter, it was great to meet with you and your team as well.
It’s especially important to be here on this 30th anniversary of the end of communism.
For three decades, the Hungarian people have worked to build a free and prosperous nation
in the heart of Central Europe.
The United States has been with you from the outset through trade, foreign assistance,
defense partnerships, and people-to-people ties between our two countries.
In doing so, we’re continuing a long tradition of America and Hungary standing together on
the side of freedom.
I was a former cavalry officer a few years back.
I’m indebted to Colonel Michael Kovats, the founder of the U.S. Cavalry, who fought
and died for American freedom in our War of Independence.
And I recall Lincoln’s resolution of support for Kossuth when he declared that America
stood with Hungary in our continued devotion to the principles of free institutions.
I’m in Central Europe this week to talk about how we renew and deepen this special
bond between our countries.
That begins with strong defense.
Peter announced and I’m happy to announce alongside him the conclusion of the defense
cooperation agreement.
This will be great for each of our two countries, and I welcome too your announcement today
that you’ll be acquiring new defense capabilities from the United States as well.
These steps, together with Hungary’s commitment to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense and a
strong presence in Afghanistan, strengthen Hungary’s and NATO’s security.
You need look no further than Ukraine, Hungary’s next-door neighbor, to see why this is needed.
Today I spoke with the foreign minister about the urgent importance of supporting Ukraine
in its quest for sovereignty and territorial integrity.
We must not let Putin drive wedges between friends in NATO.
Hungarians know all too well from their history that an authoritarian Russia will never be
a friend to the freedom and sovereignty of smaller nations.
Russia’s not the only power that wants to erode freedom in this region.
I raised with Peter today the dangers of allowing China to gain a bridgehead in Hungary, and
we talked openly about how we might work together on that issue.
There’s an experience of states in the Asia-Pacific region that shows that Beijing’s handshake
sometimes comes with strings, strings that will leave Hungary indebted both economically
and politically.
Now the difference is that Russia and China are authoritarian powers who do not share
our joint aspirations of freedom.
Today I met with Hungarian civil society leaders as well to talk about the importance of protecting
and strengthening democratic institutions throughout the Western world.
Americans and Hungarians have always stood together in the pursuit of freedom, and that
tradition continues today.
It’s why I am so proud of the American engagement with this country in the Trump administration.
I opened by talking about the 30th anniversary of the end of communism.
I am announcing new initiatives that will strengthen U.S. presence in Central Europe
region-wide.
We are increasing support for people-to-people ties, events, and exchanges.
It’s consistent with both the United States and Hungary’s mission.
As part of this effort, I’m happy to announce the addition of Hungary to the Future Leaders
Exchange Program, which will provide scholarships for Hungarian high school students to spend
a year living with U.S. families and attending American schools.
I told Peter they all had to come to Kansas.
That’s my home state.
(Laughter.)
We’re also increasing support to help Hungary in its fight against corruption, strengthening
law enforcement cooperation, and providing mentorships, training, and exchanges for independent
media in all four Visegrad countries.
Too often in the recent past, the United States was absent from Central Europe.
That’s unacceptable.
Our rivals filled those vacuums.
Today we reaffirm our determination to compete for positive influence in the region.
We’ll do so through a reinvigorated diplomacy that seeks to cooperate strategically but
also allows us to frankly discuss areas where we disagree in a manner that befits allies,
and we’ll do so by expanding America’s commercial, public diplomacy, and cultural ties.
We have every expectation Hungary will do its part to keep the commitment that it made
30 years ago.
It is every ally’s responsibility to keep Europe free,
just as Hungary did in 1948[i],
1956, and 1989.
We have full confidence that you’ll continue to stand on the side of freedom,
and it’s been a joy to be with you today.
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much, and now we open the floor for questions.
You can ask one question from American – the American press and then the Hungarian press
as well, respectively.
Christina, please.
QUESTION: Thank you.
Mr. Secretary, you spoke about pushing back against the influences of rivals in Eastern
Europe, mainly China and Russia.
How do you counter the objectives of those two states in a region, and in your talks
with leaders today, do they feel the same way about the threat that you do?
And if I may follow up, will you discuss the rule of law, press freedom, and human rights
at your dinner with President Orban tonight?
SECRETARY POMPEO: So the answer to your second question is of course.
Among friends we always talk about the important issues.
America has always stood for that set of values, and I’m confident that we’ll have a good
discussion about that.
It’s very important.
With respect to the first issue, or the first question, the way you engage is to compete.
America was a no-show.
When we’re not here, others will follow and they’ll show up, and they’ll be in
duty on behalf of the country where America is absent to do the right things for their
people, and when America’s absent, that won’t be in America’s best interest.
So we’ve taken a fundamentally different approach in the Trump administration.
We’ve now had 14 senior-level U.S. visits throughout Central Europe in just the first
two years of this administration.
I won’t tell you how many there were in the previous administration, but it starts
with a “Z.”
(Laughter.)
This is important.
The way we achieve these outcomes, the way that we begin to develop relationships that
are important, where we come to have shared understandings, is to be present, to have
conversations, to have hard conversations when that’s what’s required.
We do that.
We had a good conversation today and I’m very confident we’ll continue to do that
in the days and weeks and months ahead.
QUESTION: And Mr. Minister, if I may: You said it was easy to discuss things like Russia
and China with the U.S.
Do you feel that your two countries are on the same page when it comes to that issue?
And are you willing to distance yourself from Russia and China in order to get closer to
the U.S., and what are you looking for from the U.S. in return?
Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER SZIJJARTO: (Via interpreter) We are NATO allies.
When it comes to cooperation with Russia or cooperation with the People’s Republic of
China, that does not harm us being a reliable – or doesn’t endanger us being a reliable
ally to the United States and to NATO.
If you look at our cooperation with China, we represent 1.2 percent of the trade between
the European Union and the People’s Republic of China.
If you look at that Chinese company which is very often in the news nowadays regarding
telecommunication, are they present in Hungary?
Yes.
Who are their major contractors?
A German and a British company.
So when it comes to China, I think hypocrisy should be left finally behind.
We are usually accused, Central Europeans, that the so-called 16+1 format is so much
breaking the European Union.
Now out of the 16 countries involved in this cooperation, 11 are members
of the European Union.
Do you know how many percent of EU-China trade 11 of us represent?
Less than 10 percent.
So I think it’s not us that will be the game-changers in the relationship between,
let’s say, the Western world and China.
And when it comes to Russia, I told the Secretary as well that there’s an enormous hypocrisy
and political correctness in the European political arena in this regard.
Because look, it’s not the Hungarian and it’s not the Central European energy companies
which are preparing and building Nord Stream 2 together with Gazprom.
It was not the Hungarian prime minister to be invited as a superstar at the St. Petersburg
International Economic Forum, but it was the French president.
It was not the leaders of the Hungarian energy companies to sit together on the stage with
President Putin on the last Russian energy week, but the CEOs of the biggest Western
European energy companies.
Look at the trade figures.
Look at the trade figures between the Western European countries and Russia, and you will
see that we are let’s say fed up in a legitimate way that you usually portray us as having
a tight relationship to Russia.
QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Yes, my name is Noemi Nemeti from M1 News, and you talked
about the diversification of gas procurement.
Now, what could be the trace, what could be the pathway of a pipeline from Romania to here,
and do we also support that there would be an LNG terminal in Croatia?
(inaudible)
FOREIGN MINISTER SZIJJARTO: (Via interpreter) Well, look, in Central Europe currently,
we are unilaterally dependent on Russia concerning
– concerning energy procurement and especially
as far as gas is concerned.
Eighty-five percent of our natural gas import comes from Russia, 85 percent.
And we have done everything we could.
I mean, we have implemented all necessary investments to diversify our gas acquisition sources.
Now, we are in the position that it is solely up to our allies whether we can diversify
our sources or not.
If ExxonMobil makes a decision in favor of exploring gas in Romania so that we can buy
gas from Romania, or the Croatians, if they come up with a fair price quotation, then
we could also buy from the Krk LNG terminal in the Krk, the isle of Krk.
Because look, according to the quote they gave us, 50 percent – there would be – the
transition cost from Krk would be 50 percent more than if we were to have bought the –
if we bought the gas from Rotterdam, from the Netherlands.
Now, that’s not normal.
And of course, this is why together with Slovenia we are applying for European sources, financial
funding so that we can interconnect our gas pipelines and we could have an access to the
LNG terminals.
But let me also say that it is not in the interest of Western Europe today for Eastern
Europe or Central Europe to diversify the source – their sources.
Otherwise they would not be building a new pathway between Russia and Northern Europe
or Western Europe, which is going to be – which will have the capacity of 50 billion cubic meter,
which is more than 50-fold the Hungarian annual consumption.
So this is the agreement between Russia and Germany today, and that is going to improve
the energy security and safety of Western Europe and Germany while we are just standing
here waiting for our allies to make positive decisions so that we can also diversify our sources.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Look, I’ll just add very quickly this isn’t about selling American gas.
This is a national security matter from the American perspective.
This is about assisting countries throughout Europe and having alternative sources and
not being dependent on Russia for their natural gas, so that if there is a day when there’s
crunch time and when there is political influence to be had, these countries have alternatives;
they are not solely dependent, and therefore at political risk to be suffered from Russian
engagement that they are – that they do not welcome.