The former American ambassador to Budapest, David B. Cornstein, gave an interview on the Hungarian Ultrahang YouTube channel, which was covered by the Mandiner news portal.
Touching briefly on his hometown of New York, Cornstein noted his and his wife’s fear of crime, with even violent crimes happening in elite neighborhoods. “The city is dirty, there are fewer and fewer places to go for dinner,” he adds.
He also spoke about his love of Budapest and his time there as ambassador between 2018 and 2020. “The prime minister is probably the number one person in Hungary. But when I got there, they treated me, the American ambassador, like the prime minister. We have developed a wonderful relationship, we have achieved a lot,” Cornstein said.
On Hungary, he emphasized that with such a small country, it is important to take into account the larger region.
“There’s a point in the middle of the continent called Central Europe, where 125 million people live, it’s a hell of a market. I think you should consider that the region itself, not just the country, and if you want to expand, you can have the whole region,” he stressed.
Regarding the former ambassador, the just recently departed David Pressman, Cornstein was alarmed he never met once with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
“It doesn’t matter who you represent if you can’t achieve anything,” he commented. “(Pressman) didn’t meet anyone from the government. This is simply not normal,” the former diplomat pointed out.
He added that even under Barack Obama, Hungary was viewed as an “evil empire.” But Cornstein came in with a different attitude.
“I had a great relationship with all the ministers and the prime minister. And because of the good relationship, they called me to see if I could help the country with this or that, and I called them to see if there was a possibility for some kind of cooperation, and we arranged things. For example, defense cooperation,” he said.
“Due to the geographical location of the country, joint work is very, very important for both parties, and you can’t cooperate if you don’t talk to each other. This is ridiculous, this is very kindergarten-like,” Cornstein added.
The ambassador under Trump’s first administration further lamented the prejudices Pressman brought to the table, saying he “wasted four years” because of this.
As to serving again as ambassador under Trump, Cornstein noted that both the American and Hungarian sides want him to return to Budapest. “The leadership of both countries has approached me, which is very flattering to me,” he said.
“I hope to be involved in the process of choosing the next ambassador and have the opportunity to have some dialogue, but will probably leave that task to the next guy or girl,” said Cornstein.
