Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis, the U.S. ambassador to Hungary, rejected a news report that Washington is lobbying to have Prime Minister Viktor Orban replaced with a technocratic government.

“I can tell you absolutely, clearly, that this is not U.S. foreign policy, that is not our position and this report is untrue,” Kounalakis said today in an interview to be broadcast on ATV private television. Bloomberg News obtained the excerpt of the interview from the embassy.

Budapest-based news website Index reported yesterday, citing unidentified people involved in U.S. foreign policy, that the U.S. may press Hungary to replace Orban as the only option to avert a default.

--Editors: Balazs Penz, Alan Crosby

To contact the reporters on this story: Zoltan Simon in Budapest at zsimon@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net