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"Orbán: 'now is the time to consolidate,'" headlines Magyar Hírlap, which like most Hungarian newspapers, has devoted its front page to the interview accorded by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to national press agency MTI, in which he defends his far-reaching and controversial institutional reforms. Viktor Orbán "sees no need to change those laws already adopted," reports the Budapest daily, which is close to the ruling Fidesz party. "The government has increased the independence of the Central Bank," and remains ready to negotiate with the IMF "without preconditions," Orbán told MTI.
As for criticism from the European Union, he is asking for "a balanced judgement" on the part of the European Commission and highlighted that "the criticisms from the international press are personal opinions". Orbán is convinced that-
... nothing is new in the current situation: when the left is not in power, for the opposition and for its foreign partners democracy is at an end. […] But we have always been the democrats and we have always fought for democracy while our current adversaries defended the Communist dictatorship.
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These "national wrongdoers", as Magyar Hírlap calls them in its leader article -
... want to bring down not only Orbán, but also everything Hungarian. They want the fall of democracy by majority rule, of the will of the Hungarian people. We have no other choice but to struggle for our independence, for our land, for our Homeland.
A conversation with investigative reporters Stefano Valentino and Giorgio Michalopoulos, who have dissected the dark underbelly of green finance for Voxeurop and won several awards for their work.
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