German envoy urges Hungarians to safeguard relations with EU and NATO

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Germany’s envoy to Budapest urged Hungarian public figures to speak out against actions she said were eroding the trust of Hungary’s NATO and EU allies, in an unusually critical speech which senior Hungarian officials did not attend.

“Hungary is on a path that is leading it away from its friends,” the ambassador, Julia Gross, told an audience of diplomats, NGOs and Hungarian officials to mark German Unity Day late on Wednesday.

Senior officials were not at the event, which had been addressed by Hungary’s foreign minister a year ago. The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on their absence.

Germany has had a central role in the Hungarian economy since the mid-1990s, with car makers Audi, Daimler (OTC:), Opel and BMW (ETR:) investing billions of euros in the Central European country.

The ambassador said a range of actions had undermined Hungary’s trustworthiness, including what Prime Minister Viktor Orban described as a mission to bring peace to Ukraine which included talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in July without the backing of other European Union member states.

She also criticised the government’s “antics surrounding Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO accession”. Budapest finally ratified Sweden’s NATO accession in February after a long delay.

Gross also mentioned “individual statements made by individual politicians in the last week”.

She did not give specifics, but she wrote on X last week that Germany and France had protested to the foreign ministry over “recent surprising statements undermining the principle of solidarity among allies”. She appeared to be referring to comments from a top Orban aide suggesting Ukraine should not have resisted Russia’s invasion.

“I see many people here tonight who have always been bridge-builders,” Gross said. “Together we should demand … that what you have built up not be torn down.”

Germany is Hungary’s leading trading partner. According to data from the German-Hungarian chamber of industry and commerce, Germany accounted for 26.3% of all Hungarian exports, and 22.6% of all Hungarian imports in 2023.

Hungary’s exports to Germany grew by 9.4% last year compared to 2022 in euro terms, according to data by the statistics office of Hungary.