It’s stating the obvious to say that an important part of a diplomat’s job is to come up with positive things to say about the country they represent, no matter how dire the situation actually is. But recently-installed Foreign Minister Péter Balázs – the cheerful guy at left – seems perhaps a bit too eager in this department. In this story on Asian news site channelnewsasia.com Balázs calls attention to the “important” fact that Hungary sits on the Danube river – “the second biggest river of Europe after the Volga river in Russia” – and then tries to make a selling point of the country’s historically perilous location snuggled up against the chaotic Balkans and volatile combination of Ukraine and Russia. Okay, whatever. But then there is this: “One of the assets of Hungary is being an attractive country (with) nice climate, nice people and an encouraging atmosphere…”
We’re willing to buy the pretty country and pleasant climate stuff, and maybe even the “nice people” bit – just as long as you don’t tell any of these people that the country they are living in has an encouraging atmosphere, in which case you are likely to end up on the bottom of the second biggest river in Europe in about five seconds flat.
