{"id":415700,"date":"2025-01-08T11:51:38","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T10:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/01\/08\/usa-sanzioni-antal-rogan-ungheria\/"},"modified":"2025-01-08T14:38:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T13:38:18","slug":"washington-sanctions-a-member-of-orbans-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/01\/08\/washington-sanctions-a-member-of-orbans-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington sanctions a member of Orb\u00e1n’s government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels–In one of the last moves of the Biden administration yesterday (Jan. 7),\u00a0the United States sanctioned<\/strong> Antal Rog\u00e1n<\/strong>, part\u00a0of the magic circle of the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/strong> and a prominent cabinet member. According to the US ambassador to Hungary, the official allegedly was involved in a bribery scheme<\/strong> that he helped create to benefit himself and loyalists of the ruling party, Fidesz<\/i><\/strong>. Budapest rejected the accusations, announcing legal remedies as soon as Donald Trump<\/strong>\u00a0comes into\u00a0office in the White House.<\/p>\n

With a statement on Tuesday<\/a>, the State<\/strong>\u00a0Department\u00a0<\/strong>announced that it has designated senior Hungarian executive Antal Rog\u00e1n <\/strong>under\u00a0the global sanctions program known as the Magnitsky Act<\/i><\/strong> — a bill\u00a0that aims to hit those responsible for human rights violations around the world<\/strong> (preventing them from entering US soil, freezing their assets under Washington’s jurisdiction, and prohibiting US companies from doing business with them) and named after Sergei Magnitsky<\/strong>, a Russian lawyer who died in 2009 in a Moscow prison,<\/strong> where he was detained while investigating state corruption in the Federation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“During his tenure,” the statement reads, “Rogan has reportedly orchestrated schemes designed to control strategic sectors of the Hungarian economy<\/strong>,” playing “a central role in enabling a system in Hungary that has benefitted himself and his party at the expense of the Hungarian people.\u00a0 <\/strong>Rogan\u2019s activity is emblematic of the broader climate of impunity in Hungary<\/strong> where key elements of the state have been captured by oligarchs <\/strong>and undemocratic actors,<\/strong>” the statement adds.<\/p>\n

“Those\u00a0closely linked to the political party in power have acquired enormous wealth<\/strong>,” said the US ambassador to Budapest, David Pressman<\/strong>, at a press conference, adding that “Antal Rog\u00e1n is one of the main architects, implementers, and beneficiaries<\/strong> of this system of corruption.”<\/p>\n

\n

Today, the United States sanctioned Hungarian Minister Antal Rog\u00e1n for his central role in facilitating public corruption.https:\/\/t.co\/HboryOMAvu<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/1gC2FxaQhL<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ambassador David Pressman (@USAmbHungary) January 7, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Washington’s concerns about corruption in the central European country are not new. Congress worked for three years<\/a>\u00a0on the sanctions imposed on Rog\u00e1n yesterday. “Today’s designation is not a decision the United States took lightly,” Pressman reiterated, noting that “it is not common for the United States to designate a sitting minister<\/strong>” and “even less common is to do so in an allied country<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Rog\u00e1n, an economist by training and former mayor of Belv\u00e1ros-Lip\u00f3tv\u00e1ros<\/strong> (a municipality in the capital), has long been one of the key figures in Orb\u00e1n’s government — and his system of power<\/strong>. Since 2015, he has worked on his election campaigns and oversaw his powerful media machine<\/strong> (earning him the nickname “propaganda minister”). He is currently head of the Hungarian\u00a0PM’s Cabinet Office<\/strong>, responsible for several areas, from formal executive communications to civilian intelligence<\/strong>. Before joining the government, Rog\u00e1n was the\u00a0parliamentary group leader of Fidesz.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Naturally, Budapest immediately criticized the move by outgoing US President Joe Biden<\/strong>. Hungarian Foreign Minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3<\/strong> denounced Washington’s decision as politically motivated <\/strong>by Ambassador Pressman, who, over the years, repeatedly clashed with Orb\u00e1n’s executives.<\/p>\n

“This ambassador sent to Hungary by the failed American administration<\/strong>, but leaving from here unsuccessfully and without dignity is the personal revenge against Antal Rog\u00e1n,” <\/strong>he posted\u00a0on Facebook.<\/strong>\u00a0“How great that in a few days we will have people leading the United States who consider our country as a friend and not an enemy,” referring to the impending handover\u00a0between Biden and Donald Trump<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Under Orb\u00e1n’s authoritarian leadership, Hungary has become the\u00a0NATO member state closest to Vladimir Putin<\/strong>‘s Russia, which has led to a\u00a0deterioration\u00a0of\u00a0relations between Budapest and Washington<\/strong> in recent years, especially during Biden’s tenure in the White House. According to reports by international observers, the corruption situation in the country has worsened significantly<\/strong> since the current prime minister returned to\u00a0power in 2010.<\/p>\n

Last year, the German association Transparency International<\/i><\/strong> ranked Hungary as the EU member with the highest corruption index<\/strong>. A view that Brussels seems to\u00a0share. A few days ago, the EU executive definitively blocked over\u00a0\u20ac1 billion<\/strong> in European funds precisely in response to the\u00a0lack of reform in the area of anti-corruption.<\/strong> Another 6 billion remain blocked<\/a> for rule of law-related risks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Antal Rog\u00e1n, a close ally of the Hungarian prime minister, has come under fire from the Biden administration. He has managed communications, election campaigns, and even intelligence services for Orban over the years. According to the United States, he is allegedly the architect of corruption schemes that benefit himself and other loyalists of the prime minister<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":415687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[30134,30135,25804,26104],"class_list":["post-415700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-antal-rogan-en","tag-magnitsky-act-en","tag-sanctionsin","tag-usa-en-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415700"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":415732,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415700\/revisions\/415732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}