SEVERAL MEMBERS of the European Parliament showed their strong opposition to Hungary’s controversial new media law yesterday by placing tape over their mouths and displaying posters bearing the word “censored” when Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban arrived to deliver his first address.
Mr Orban was in attendance to mark the start of Hungary’s six-month presidency of the European Union and to outline his priorities for the presidency, including job creation and further enlargement to include Croatia. But the two-hour debate was dominated by criticism of new legislation which allows for the establishment of a media council in Hungary to rule on when media coverage is balanced.
Martin Schulz, a German MEP and leader of the Socialists and Democrats group in parliament, said the media council was made up of members of Mr Orban’s party, which has a two-thirds majority in Hungary, or people close to it.
“In a democracy it’s the media that scrutinises power. What you are doing is scrutinising the media and that is not right,” he said.
He also criticised Mr Orban’s installation of a carpet depicting Hungary’s imperial history at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels. The carpet shows a map of Europe in 1848 when Hungary included large parts of what are now other EU countries.
Mr Schulz called for the withdrawal of the new law to avoid the issue dominating debate in the months ahead.
French MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the co-leader of the Greens, said Mr Orban was in danger of not understanding the crucial nature of democracy.
He said the basis of democracy was freedom of expression. Questioning the definition of balanced information, which the media council will adjudicate on, he asked him did he think George Bush got balanced information on Abu Ghraib. “Your law today is not a law that corresponds with the values of the European Union,” he said.
Mr Orban said no matter what views MEPs held on Hungarian domestic politics, they should not mix them up with his country’s presidency of the European Council. “If you mix up the two . . . obviously I’m ready to fight,” he said.
The media law is being examined by the European Commission, and Mr Orban said it would be amended if necessary. He said the new law replaced one that had been in existence since the communist era and actually gave journalists more freedom.
José Manuel Barroso told MEPs the principle of freedom of the press was a sacred one in the European Union. He said the commission would be writing to the Hungarian authorities this week to seek clarification on some legal aspects of the new law and would decide, on the basis of answers received, whether further action was required. “Let’s allow the proper procedures to take their course,” he urged.