First the United States, then Argentina — now Hungary? Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s office said Thursday Hungary could withdraw from the World Health Organization.
Trump ordered U.S. withdrawal almost immediately upon taking office in January, and was followed Wednesday by Argentinian President Javier Milei.
Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Hungarian prime minister’s office, told reporters Thursday that “if the most powerful country in the world decides to leave an international organization, then I think the Hungarian government would act carefully if it were to consider whether it should not take this step.”
“We may come to the conclusion that we do not have to do it, we may come to a different decision, of course, but it is certainly worth considering,” Gulyás said, since the “world's strongest democracy is leaving of its own free will.”
Also on Thursday, the deputy speaker of Russia's parliament spoke in favor of an exit.
“It is time to thoroughly investigate WHO's activities in Russia. During the investigation, Russian membership should at least be suspended. Or, better still, we should say goodbye altogether,” Pyotr Tolstoy wrote on Telegram. Tolstoy hails from President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.
Trump and his allies have previously accused the WHO of interfering with countries’ sovereignty, being unduly influenced by China, and bungling its Covid-19 response — all claims WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus flatly rejected in a speech to member countries on Monday.
“As a U.N. agency, WHO is impartial and exists to serve all countries and all people,” Tedros said. When countries make requests that go beyond WHO’s mission to support global health, “we say no, politely,” he added.