Budapest’s chattering classes are this week dissecting a pointed
opinion article
by Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis, the US ambassador, published in
Heti Valász
, a moderate conservative weekly.
In her piece the ambassador
urges
Hungary's ruling Fidesz party to consider the consequences of its centralising reforms. Her main concern is the "cardinal laws"—which can only be changed by a two-thirds majority in parliament—that the government is seeking to write into the constitution.
Ms Kounalakis notes that Fidesz won power in a free and fair election last year, and says that Hungary is a friend of the United States. But however delicately phrased, her article is just the latest in a series of public warnings from Washington to Hungary. Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state,
expressed her concerns
in June during a visit to Budapest. She called for "a real commitment to the independence of the judiciary, a free press, and governmental transparency".
Two months later, Thomas Melia, a senior state department official with extensive experience of the region, described his “significant concern” about Hungary’s “democratic trajectory”.
After eight years of corruption, sloth and elite protection under the Socialists, Hungary needs serious structural reforms. But the perception gap between Hungary and its international friends is growing. The government believes that the two-thirds majority it won at last year's election gives it a mandate to do whatever it wants to rebuild Hungary in its own image, and not just for its four-year term.
But outsiders fear a blurring between party and state. An overwhelming election victory, they say, is not a licence to control the independent institutions of state. Hungarian politicians, say western officials who have discussed Fidesz's reforms with them, see politics as a zero-sum game. They refuse to make even minor amendments for fear that compromise will be seen as weakness.