Hungarian headache

Even before Fidesz’s landslide victory in the Hungarian general elections last April, the European press was quick to criticise the populist approach of its leader Viktor Orbán. Once in power, Orbán made no secret of the fact that he intended to make full use of the ample room for manœuvre accorded by a two-thirds majority in parliament. Having appealed to the nationalist sentiments of Magyars urbi et orbi, and after steering, not without difficulty, his country through the financial storm sweeping across Europe, the prime minister set about taxing large companies (including many foreign ones) and introduced new regulations to swat away any opposition in the press.

The new law on the media has given Fidesz an unprecedented level of control over information in the country. Criticised both in Hungary and abroad, it might have attracted less attention if it had not come into force on the very day Budapest took over the Presidency of the European Union. With his country and government in the limelight, it was only a matter of time before Viktor Orbán’s populist excesses provoked a reaction from politicians in other countries who, until then, had been more than discreet. A number of governments, as well as the OSCE and the European Commission, felt obliged to issue warnings about the importance of press freedom and to demand that Budapest review the offending law.

In response, Orbán deplored what he described as the interference of other European leaders in a field where where they had no right to assume the moral high ground, but announced that he would discuss the matter with European authorities, and even review the law if other European countries would accept to do the same under similar circumstances. In view of the general trend, which has prompted an exasperated response from Reporters Without Borders, the overwhelming likelihood is that once the dust has settled, Orbán’s international colleagues will drop the issue before they are obliged to put their own houses in order, which is a pity because an opportunity to safeguard the freedom of the press in Europe will now be wasted.