Bence Rétvári, the interior ministry's state secretary, said the US's request from Hungary to disclose the personal data of 900,000 ethnic Hungarians living beyond the borders is "unrealistic" because disclosure of such data would jeopardise their security.
The two countries have been making every effort over the past several years to find a solution to unresolved issues, Rétvári said, noting that not long ago, on June 10, Hungary had sent a diplomatic note containing proposals to the United States. Then after this, Washington announced a decision to tighten visa rules for Hungarians, he told public broadcaster Kossuth radio on Sunday. “It is an unprecedented and unrealistic request from a country to disclose the personal data of several hundreds of thousands of its citizens because every country safeguards such data with legal guarantees so does Hungary,” Rétvári said. He said that law enforcement cooperation with the United States had been successful over the past years with the two sides’ continuing coordination on cases implicated. Rétvári said Hungary would undoubtedly respond to every case signalled by the US within the shortest possible period of time. He said proceedings in alleged unlawful cases had been launched and if a breach of law was established, the Hungarian citizenship has been revoked. Hungary will maintain dialogue and cooperate with its ally, the United States, in each case indicated, he said.