MFA State Secretary for Parliamentary Affairs Zsolt Németh discussed the perspectives the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, the EU-USA Free Trade Agreement as well as the issue of covert intelligence gathering activities during his talks with the US National Security Council, the State Department and Congress on 21 November 2013.

„Although it is rather difficult to follow the communication of the Ukrainian government as of late, the coming days in the run-up to the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius must to be devoted to doing our utmost for the signing the Association and Free Trade Agreement with Ukraine as well as the Association Agreement with Moldova and Georgia”, the State Secretary told Hungarian news agency MTI on Thursday with reference to the talks he began the day before.

The State Secretary compared the significance of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) being negotiated between the European Union and the United States to the founding of NATO in 1949.

“The TTIP can be considered as being a kind of economic NATO, which – if concluded – will exercise a significant impact on both the European and the American economy”, he said.

„Hungary must also prepare to maximize the benefits of the agreement and reduce its disadvantages. We are convinced that this agreement must be based on Member State interests. We attach great significance to the TTIP and if it meets this requirement then Hungary will be a dedicated supporter of the free trade agreement”, Mr. Németh stated.

Talking about covert intelligence activities, the State Secretary revealed that his negotiating partners in Washington had informed him that the American party has ordered a revision of the practice by the end of the year. “We believe that the phone tapping case has to be handled separately from the issue of the free trade area and we do not support the idea of linking these two in any manner”, Mr. Németh said.

State Secretary Németh was received by senior director for European affairs for the National Security Council Karen Donfried and by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour at the United States Department of State Thomas O. Melia and Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, Ira Forman. In Congress, he met with several members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs including Ranking Members Eliot Engel and Bill Keating as well as Co-chairman of the US Helsinki Commission, Chris Smith, Co-Chairman of the Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue, Mario Diaz-Balart and Co-chairman of the Hungarian Congressional Caucus, Andy Harris. He was given a tour of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Paul Shapiro, Director of the Centre for Advanced Holocaust Studies.

Zsolt Németh explained that his American partners are looking forward with great expectations to the Hungarian Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). He pointed out that this coincides with the commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust in Hungary, which is of great significance not only from the perspective of the Hungarian Jewish community. It is also very important for Hungarian society to discuss the extremely complex and very sensitive issues of the past. The diplomat revealed: the Hungarian government is looking forward to the Washington Holocaust Museum also delegating a member to the Supervisory Committee that is overseeing the Józsefváros Railway Station Program.

On Thursday, the State Secretary spoke with Maximilian Teleki of the American-Hungarian Coalition, Ferenc Koszorús from the American Hungarian Federation, Gabe Rózsa of the Kossuth Foundation and László Hámos of the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation of New York. During the talks, mention was made of the fact that the Ethics Committee of the Order of the "Star of Romania" asked the Romanian President to revoke the state decoration previously awarded to Hungarian MEP László Tőkés. The parties agreed that this was unacceptable and was a move to intimidate the Hungarian community in Romania.

Zsolt Németh gave a lecture at the Centre for European Policy Analysis on the impending EU Eastern Partnership Summit

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)