Ron Rutgers 🇭🇺

😬 For weeks, Hungary’s new government boasted about its invitations to world leaders, building an entire communications campaign around the guest list for Hungary’s national holiday on October 23. Péter Magyar proudly advertised invitations to some 100–150 foreign politicians, promising a major international gathering in Budapest to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1956 revolution. Awkwardly the guest list tells a rather different story. Donald Trump isn’t coming. Neither are Emmanuel Macron, Giorgia Meloni, Robert Fico, Friedrich Merz, Donald Tusk or Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Macron’s absence is particularly humiliating. Magyar publicly announced that the French president would attend, only for the French embassy to clarify that his visit had never even been confirmed by France. And Benjamin Netanyahu? Well, his absence is hardly surprising either. Magyar invited the Israeli prime minister to Budapest, then made it clear that Netanyahu would have to be arrested if he entered Hungary under an International Criminal Court warrant. An invitation to Budapest, with the prospect of arrest upon arrival. Quite an interesting way to welcome a guest. A truly unique approach to diplomacy. But of course, Ursula von der Leyen — the “Brussels handler” — is coming. Instead of the grand gathering of world leaders, Hungarian newspapers are now reporting on the diplomatic fiasco surrounding the event. What was supposed to showcase the new Hungarian government’s international influence has turned into an embarrassing contrast between its PR campaign and diplomatic reality.