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EXCERPTS OF
CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY
BY HUDSON SCHOLARS
ZEYNO BARAN’S
testimony on energy and
democracy in Central and
Eastern Europe before the
House Foreign Affairs
Committee
July 25
As the EU and the U.S. are act ive ly
working to diversify European gas away
from Russia (by supporting a pipe line
project called Nabucco to trans port gas
from the Caspian region via Turkey,
Bulgaria, Romania, and Hun gary, ending
in Austria), Moscow has used its
economic relations with Hungary (trade
between Hungary and Russia increased
by 70 percent over the last year) to try
to pull Budapest away from its EU and
NATO allies. As in Uk raine, energy
played a key role in this effort.
In 2000, an Irish-registered company
called Milford Holding acquired a
significant stake in BorsodChem,
Hun gary’s primary chemical company
and owner of a pipeline distribution
network. It was soon revealed that
Gaz prom was the real force behind
Mil ford Holding. Shortly thereafter, a
series of obscure, recently created com -
panies began snatching up BorsodChem
shares. Fearful that Gazprom or other
Russian actors might be behind these
firms as well, the Hungarian government
rallied local companies and banks
to fight off further intrusion and prevent
a Russian takeover.
JAIME DAREMBLUM’S
testimony on U.S.-South
American relations before
the House Committee on
Foreign Affairs
June 19
Data from the Economic Commission
for Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC), show that between 2003
and 2006, over 18 million Latin
Americans were able to escape from
the poorest ranks of society. This is a
tangible testimony to falling unemployment,
improved income distribution,
and a strong upswing in the
number of jobs, namely in some South
American countries, among them
Colombia and Peru.
Growing trade opportunities lie at
the core of such economic and social
advances. And trade, precisely, has
been a chapter in which the U.S. has
kept constantly engaged since 1983
through various free trade programs
such as the Caribbean Basin Initiative
(CBI), culminating in actual free trade
agreements, namely with Chile, D-
Cafta, plus those with Colombia, Peru,
and Panama. It is crucial that the latter
three agreements, as it was with Chile
and D-Cafta, receive congressional
approval for the benefit of millions
more Latin Americans and of course
American producers and consumers.
This is a promise the U.S. cannot
afford to abandon or circumvent, particularly
in Colombia, without incurring
costly negative consequences. As
we all know, until only a few years
ago, a democratic Colombia was on
the verge of being lost amidst the
chaos and extreme violence generated
by drugs and drug-related terrorism.
Thanks to the resilience of the
Colombian people and the sustained
backing of the U.S. through Plan
Colombia, as well as the able leadership
of President Álvaro Uribe, the
country has begun to turn the tide in
this decades-long battle.
DIANA FURCHTGOTT-
ROTH’S testimony on
worker competitiveness
before the House Ways
and Means Committee
June 14
In 2007, the United States leads the
industrialized world in job creation,
and our unemployment rate is among
the lowest in the industrialized world.
In contrast, unemployment rates in
most other countries are far higher. In
April 2007, the latest month for which
comparable data are available, Ameri -
cans had an unemployment rate of 4.5
percent, while unemployment rates in
the Eurozone were 7.1 per cent; in
France, 8.6 percent; in Germany, 6.7
percent; in Spain, 8.2 percent; and in
Canada, 6.1 percent. Only Japan had a
FALL 2007 / HUDSON INSTITUTE 5