Hungary summoned the US charge in Budapest to the foreign ministry to protest criticism by President Barack Obama for trying to muzzle civil society groups.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Judit Fulop yesterday told Hungarian news agency MTI that Washington's representative had been summoned to lodge an official protest.
In a TV interview Thursday, Goodfriend said the US embassy had been providing the Obama administration with information on the situation of civil society in Hungary.
The diplomat said that the US had raised concerns as an ally and a friend, and added that "I am trying to avoid the word criticism".
Speaking in New York on Tuesday, Obama said: "From Hungary to Egypt, endless regulations and overt intimidation increasingly target civil society."
He also accused Russia, China, Venezuela, and Azerbaijan of intimidating NGOs.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Obama's remarks has "no factual basis".
Since June, Hungarian authorities has investigated some 60 non-governmental organisations funded from abroad -- mostly from Norway -- that they suspect of political bias and in some cases embezzlement.
In July, Orban, who has faced accusations of taking Hungary down an authoritarian path since he took power in 2010, labelled NGOs "paid foreign activists".
Earlier this month the US representative at a gathering of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the probes "appear to be aimed at suppressing critical voices and restricting the space for civil society to operate freely".
Budapest insists the probes are based on a serious suspicion of wrongdoing by a small fraction of the many NGOs operating in Hungary.
"The Hungarian people are a freedom-loving people, and would not tolerate any restrictions on their freedom," the foreign ministry said earlier this week.
