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Nepszabadsag, Hungary
Sept 7 2012
The Foreign Ministry's Decline
by Edit Inotai
Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi has needed four days to make a
statement on the Armenian-Hungarian scandal. All this basically does
not come as surprise and clearly shows the Foreign Ministry's
devaluation that has been going on for two years: By now, the ministry
has basically disappeared within the Hungarian Government, and has
become invisible and mute. We can spot its work only when it needs to
"clean up something" or offer explanations after some blunders or
scandals at best.
This is the case, even though the Foreign Ministry survived remarkably
well the change of government and the ensuing concentration of power:
The Foreign Ministry remained intact - at least as far as its
organizational structure was concerned - while other ministries were
closed down or integrated. It kept its network of international
representations; despite the fact that its budget was slashed, all
conditions were given to enable it to function well and spectacularly,
Peter Balazs, university professor, former foreign minister, and
former EU commissioner, has said.
Hungarian diplomacy regularly creates scandals.
There were opportunities for success such as the rotating EU
presidency which the Foreign Ministry ran well on a professional
level, but foreign countries were loud with Hungarian domestic
political scandals. Now, two years later, we have reached a point when
the only "achievement" that Hungarian foreign policy can show is
isolation and a loss of face, which has recently been "crowned" by the
Azerbaijani scandal as well.
In the government organization, the Foreign Ministry has lost its
influence and no longer has an independent voice. The fact that peer
pressure is widespread here, too, is only one of the reasons for this;
by the way, peer pressure permeates the whole of Hungarian society.
Diplomats have good antennae, perceive expectations, and are also
vulnerable to the government in an existential sense. It is almost
natural that "they adjust themselves." To understand their situation,
it is enough to recall that State Secretary Zsolt Nemeth proudly said
on Hir TV that they had managed to replace 90 per cent of the
ambassador over the course of two years.
In Balazs opinion, the Foreign Ministry had lost face mainly because
of political reasons: distrust and the concentration of power. The
government only has eight ministers; the last time when a government
had so few ministers was in 1848. It seems that this is not enough,
either; now a "minigovernment" is apparently being formed within the
government around the prime minister's cabinet. At least this is
suggested by Peter Szijjarto's appointment as state secretary for
foreign policy and foreign trade. "It is perfectly natural that a
prime minister also deals with foreign policy. Usually, it is rather
odd that a prime minister shrinks from such duties such as Spain's
Zapatero who does not speak foreign languages and felt out of place in
the international arena because of this," Balazs said.
Three politicians represent a country abroad most frequently: the
president, the prime minister, and the foreign minister. But there
should be good harmony and appropriate division of labour between
them. For example, in Germany (where Balazs served as ambassador),
Chancellor Helmut Kohl "ran" Russian and EU affairs, Foreign Minister
Klaus Kinkel dealt with the Balkans and Visegrad countries [the Czech
Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia], and Defence Minister Volker
Ruha was in charge of crisis zones. There was similar division of
labour under the Bajnai government, too: The prime minister mainly
fostered US and Russian relations; as foreign minister, Balazs
primarily focused on the EU, and Laszlo Solyom [president] decided to
deal with neighbourhood policy. But cooperation was not smooth in the
latter area, Balazs admitted.
It is not completely unusual, either that there is a foreign and
security policy adviser to the prime minister. His role is immensely
important in the United States; in other places, it is rather a gray
eminence who plays this role. He prepares the prime minister's
international visits in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry, but he
is in the limelight very rarely.
There is a completely different situation in the current Hungarian
Government. For example, Szijjarto has gained considerable power by
being appointed as chairman of eight mixed committees. There was a
fight throughout the summer when the Institute of International
Affairs, a Foreign Ministry support organization, tried to secure
positions for "its own experts." According to this daily's
information, this attempt finally failed because of Martonyi's
opposition. It is enough to say this much about "good cooperation"
between the Foreign Ministry and the state secretary. It was also a
strange development that Szijjarto spoke first in the extradition
matter of the Azerbaijani axe killer; moreover, he did so on behalf of
the Foreign Ministry; only after this did the Foreign Ministry
hurriedly issue Zsolt Nemeth's statement.
We cannot see any clear division of labour between the Hungarian prime
minister and the foreign minister, either. The only thing that we can
spot is that Martonyi sometimes tries to correct statements when Orban
"tells the EU some home truths." When the prime minister compared the
EU to a hellhole, Martonyi tried to stress that this community was
very important to us.
"There used to be diplomats who 'winked at the outside world' even
under Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar; we can also see this
duality in the Hungarian diplomacy these days. But everybody knows
after all that the prime minister makes decisions and that it is his
opinion that matters," Balazs recalled.
It is common in Hungarian diplomacy that ambassadors are replaced
after a change of government.
Martonyi announced as early as June of 2010 that they would recall 15
ambassadors and would end the assignment of some of them, especially
because they had not trusted them. Zsolt Nemeth went further than this
a month later and said that they had planned to replace the chiefs of
30 international representations. Barely two months later, they
appointed eight individuals and the National Assembly's Committee on
Foreign Affairs heard another six candidates in December; they
basically reached the figures indicated by Martonyi.
By now, Nemeth's prediction has probably also come true because they
have continued personnel changes, even if more slowly. There is a new
man in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna; moreover, a
different ambassador represents Hungary in the UN and the EU, too.
Sept 7 2012
The Foreign Ministry's Decline
by Edit Inotai
Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi has needed four days to make a
statement on the Armenian-Hungarian scandal. All this basically does
not come as surprise and clearly shows the Foreign Ministry's
devaluation that has been going on for two years: By now, the ministry
has basically disappeared within the Hungarian Government, and has
become invisible and mute. We can spot its work only when it needs to
"clean up something" or offer explanations after some blunders or
scandals at best.
This is the case, even though the Foreign Ministry survived remarkably
well the change of government and the ensuing concentration of power:
The Foreign Ministry remained intact - at least as far as its
organizational structure was concerned - while other ministries were
closed down or integrated. It kept its network of international
representations; despite the fact that its budget was slashed, all
conditions were given to enable it to function well and spectacularly,
Peter Balazs, university professor, former foreign minister, and
former EU commissioner, has said.
Hungarian diplomacy regularly creates scandals.
There were opportunities for success such as the rotating EU
presidency which the Foreign Ministry ran well on a professional
level, but foreign countries were loud with Hungarian domestic
political scandals. Now, two years later, we have reached a point when
the only "achievement" that Hungarian foreign policy can show is
isolation and a loss of face, which has recently been "crowned" by the
Azerbaijani scandal as well.
In the government organization, the Foreign Ministry has lost its
influence and no longer has an independent voice. The fact that peer
pressure is widespread here, too, is only one of the reasons for this;
by the way, peer pressure permeates the whole of Hungarian society.
Diplomats have good antennae, perceive expectations, and are also
vulnerable to the government in an existential sense. It is almost
natural that "they adjust themselves." To understand their situation,
it is enough to recall that State Secretary Zsolt Nemeth proudly said
on Hir TV that they had managed to replace 90 per cent of the
ambassador over the course of two years.
In Balazs opinion, the Foreign Ministry had lost face mainly because
of political reasons: distrust and the concentration of power. The
government only has eight ministers; the last time when a government
had so few ministers was in 1848. It seems that this is not enough,
either; now a "minigovernment" is apparently being formed within the
government around the prime minister's cabinet. At least this is
suggested by Peter Szijjarto's appointment as state secretary for
foreign policy and foreign trade. "It is perfectly natural that a
prime minister also deals with foreign policy. Usually, it is rather
odd that a prime minister shrinks from such duties such as Spain's
Zapatero who does not speak foreign languages and felt out of place in
the international arena because of this," Balazs said.
Three politicians represent a country abroad most frequently: the
president, the prime minister, and the foreign minister. But there
should be good harmony and appropriate division of labour between
them. For example, in Germany (where Balazs served as ambassador),
Chancellor Helmut Kohl "ran" Russian and EU affairs, Foreign Minister
Klaus Kinkel dealt with the Balkans and Visegrad countries [the Czech
Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia], and Defence Minister Volker
Ruha was in charge of crisis zones. There was similar division of
labour under the Bajnai government, too: The prime minister mainly
fostered US and Russian relations; as foreign minister, Balazs
primarily focused on the EU, and Laszlo Solyom [president] decided to
deal with neighbourhood policy. But cooperation was not smooth in the
latter area, Balazs admitted.
It is not completely unusual, either that there is a foreign and
security policy adviser to the prime minister. His role is immensely
important in the United States; in other places, it is rather a gray
eminence who plays this role. He prepares the prime minister's
international visits in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry, but he
is in the limelight very rarely.
There is a completely different situation in the current Hungarian
Government. For example, Szijjarto has gained considerable power by
being appointed as chairman of eight mixed committees. There was a
fight throughout the summer when the Institute of International
Affairs, a Foreign Ministry support organization, tried to secure
positions for "its own experts." According to this daily's
information, this attempt finally failed because of Martonyi's
opposition. It is enough to say this much about "good cooperation"
between the Foreign Ministry and the state secretary. It was also a
strange development that Szijjarto spoke first in the extradition
matter of the Azerbaijani axe killer; moreover, he did so on behalf of
the Foreign Ministry; only after this did the Foreign Ministry
hurriedly issue Zsolt Nemeth's statement.
We cannot see any clear division of labour between the Hungarian prime
minister and the foreign minister, either. The only thing that we can
spot is that Martonyi sometimes tries to correct statements when Orban
"tells the EU some home truths." When the prime minister compared the
EU to a hellhole, Martonyi tried to stress that this community was
very important to us.
"There used to be diplomats who 'winked at the outside world' even
under Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar; we can also see this
duality in the Hungarian diplomacy these days. But everybody knows
after all that the prime minister makes decisions and that it is his
opinion that matters," Balazs recalled.
It is common in Hungarian diplomacy that ambassadors are replaced
after a change of government.
Martonyi announced as early as June of 2010 that they would recall 15
ambassadors and would end the assignment of some of them, especially
because they had not trusted them. Zsolt Nemeth went further than this
a month later and said that they had planned to replace the chiefs of
30 international representations. Barely two months later, they
appointed eight individuals and the National Assembly's Committee on
Foreign Affairs heard another six candidates in December; they
basically reached the figures indicated by Martonyi.
By now, Nemeth's prediction has probably also come true because they
have continued personnel changes, even if more slowly. There is a new
man in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna; moreover, a
different ambassador represents Hungary in the UN and the EU, too.