A
ten-member delegation of the House Committee on International Relations
headed by Rep. Henry Hyde, Chairman, and Rep. Tom Lantos, the Ranking
Minority Member, visited Hungary between April 6-9. The Congressional
delegation met with President Ferenc Mádl, Prime Minister Péter
Medgyessy, Speaker of the Parliament Katalin Szili, Minister of Foreign
Affairs László Kovács, Minister of Interior Mónika Lamperth, and the
members of the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the Hungarian Parliament.
The delegation also visited the International Law Enforcement Academy
(ILEA), created in a joint effort by the Governments of Hungary and the
United States in 1995.
Legislators
of the International Relations Committee paid a visit to Hungary, poised
to join the European Union on May 1, 2004, to discuss topics of common
interest that included bilateral relations, transatlantic cooperation, EU
accession, the upcoming NATO Summit, and Hungary’s role in war on
terrorism.
The
delegation of U.S. lawmakers thanked Hungary for its cooperation in the
fight against terrorism. "No matter how much money we spend in the
United States on our military, we cannot be successful without friends
like Hungary, who stick with us when times are bad," a member of the
delegation told members of the Hungarian Parliament's Foreign
Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
Hungary
will stress the need to strengthen Trans-Atlantic relations after it
becomes a member in the European Union and considers the United States a
strategic partner, Foreign Minister Laszló Kovács told members of the
American congressional delegation.
Hungarian
members of parliament assured the U.S. delegation of Hungary's
"deepest solidarity" with the United States in the war on
terror. Committee chairman Zsolt Németh urged the U.S. delegation to also
take note of security risks present in Europe. "Europe still requires
serious attention ... especially in the Balkans and in the former Soviet
region," Németh said.
Another
Congressional delegation, led by Rep. Mike Rogers, Deputy Majority Whip,
accompanied by Reps. Joe Wilson, Member of the House Armed Services
Committee and Bob Etheridge, Member of the House Homeland Security Select
Committee, was also in Hungary on three-day visit. The members of the
delegation met with Minister of Interior Mónika Lamperth, the Joint
Hungarian–U.S. Organized Crime Task Force, and visited the International
Law Enforcement Academy to discuss issues related to the fight
against terrorism and organized crime.
Rep.
Robert Wexler, Ranking Democrat on the House Europe Subcommittee visited
Hungary between April 15-19 where he met Deputy State Secretary Gábor
Szentiványi in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Rep. József Kozma,
member of the Foreign Relations Committee and Deputy Mayor of the city of
Szeged. Rep. Wexler had talks with András Heisler, President of the
Hungarian Jewish Organizations and András Lednitzky, President of the
Szeged Jewish Community, where he commended the respectful manner in which
the Hungarian government and people are facing the past and remembering
the Holocaust and the deportation of Hungary’s Jews.
Picture:
Hungarian President Ferenc Mádl, right, talks with U.S. Rep. and Chairman
of the House International Relations Committee, Henry Hyde, seated, U.S.
Ambassador to Hungary, George Herbert Walker, second left, and U.S.
Congressman Tom Lantos, left, in the Presidential Palace in Budapest (AP)
