AM DECEMBER 3, 2014 EDITORS:
[email protected] ¬ WWW.HUNGARYMATTERS.HU MORNING ISSUE PHOTO OF THE DAY UPCOMING EVENTS Transparency International publishes Corruption Perceptions Index Plenary session of Parliament Israeli Film Week opens Presser on European Women’s Handball Championship to be co- hosted by Hungary, Croatia Stats office releases Q3 2014 GDP figures MTI/Bea Kallos Paralympic fencer Gyöngyi Dani with her son on December 3, the International Day of People with Disability TOP STORY COLLEEN BELL APPOINTED US AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY The United States Senate has approved the nomination of television producer Colleen Bradley Bell as US ambassador to Hungary. The appointment was approved in a vote of 52 to 42, with Democrats voting for and Republicans against the nominee. The Hungarian foreign ministry had already approved Bell’s appointment last year. John McCain, a Republican senator and former US presidential candidate, delivered a stormy address in the Senate before the vote, attacking Bell’s candidacy. He said she was a “totally unsuitable” nominee to a “very important country where bad things are going on.” He underlined Bell’s lack of expertise. “Hungary is a close ally in many respects, but there’s no doubt that since taking office in 2010, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has centralized power,” McCain said, adding that critics say Orban’s measures go against democratic principles. Orban “has reduced the independence of Hungary’s courts, pushed through controversial changes in the constitution and placed acute restrictions on nongovernmental organizations,” he added. He charged that Orban had been “cozying up” to Vladimir Putin, with whom he had signed a nuclear pact and “is practicing the same kind of antidemocratic practices” as his role model.