A strange advocacy group founded by Mormon businessmen is about to bring Hungarian politicians for talks to Washington DC, news portal index.hu reported via buzzfeed.com. There is only little information about the new formation entitled Hungarian American Institute, but it is known to enjoy close relations with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, namely the Mormons.* Jozsef Szamosfalvi, a Hungarian-American businessman and leader of the group, told BuzzFeed News that they had no political party affiliation and the group was founded because they don’t like the current “lack of communication and where the relationship between the two countries is going.” The Hungarian delegation will feature politicians from different political parties, even one from radical right-wing Jobbik party.

According to Hungarian American Institute’s website, it “is an international association devoted to promoting trade and business relations between Hungary and the United States, as well as policies in both nations that provide economic growth, personal opportunity, peace, and security for individuals and families.” In order to do so, the Institute will bring** a group of Hungarian politicians to meet members of the House and Senate foreign affairs committees in Washington DC next week, including László Kucsák, a member of parliament for ruling conservative Fidesz and Márta Demeter, a member of parliament for the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP). Jobbik MP Gábor Staudt is also on the list despite he had close link with the infamous Magyar Gárda, a paramilitary organization connected to Jobbik that was banned in 2009. Five years later Staudt was Jobbik’s candidate for mayor of Budapest, finishing third-place with 7,1 per cent of the votes.

Gábor Staudt told index.hu that he had no detailed programme about next week’s visit yet, therefore he could not share the names of the US politicians he will meet in Washington DC. At the same time he firmly denied that his journey represents a twist in Jobbik’s foreign policy. “In our people party there are different opinions besides each other”, he said. According to Staudt, it is the media’s fault that Jobbik has had a rather bad reputation abroad, suggesting the party is pursuing anti-West and anti-USA policies, which is not true, he insisted. However, party leader Gábor Vona has announced recently a long-awaited change in Jobbik’s attitude towards Western powers, aiming to improve the party’s relations with Brussels, Berlin and Washington. Since ruling Fidesz party had a serious conflict with Washington over the ban affair last year, Jobbik is doing to right thing when it promotes its anti-corruption image in the West, Gábor Staudt told index.hu.

via index.hu and buzzfeed.com photo: Nóra Halász – budapester.hu

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*Correction

We may have reported mistakenly that the Hungarian American Institute (HAI) has close relations to the “Mormon” church. In response to our article Jozsef Szamosfalvi told Hungary Today that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had no other links to HAI than his “personal faith and belief.” “We have no affiliation with the Mormons or any mormon lobby efforts if those even exist”, he insisted.

**Correction

The phrase we used might make the wrong impression that the Hungarian American Institute (HAI) is affiliated with one or more political parties in Hungary or in the USA. In fact HAI has no such affiliations and it only invited the Hungarian politicians for a visit to Washington DC in order to “improve on the relationships between our countries”, Jozsef Szamosfalvi told Hungary Today.

We apologise for the mistakes.

editorial group of Hungary Today