BUDAPEST, Hungary – Hungary, a European Union member since 2004 and its current president, has been considered worthy of emulation for Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries trying to shed a communist past and embrace democratic principles.
That is why many were alarmed when Hungarian authorities adopted a controversial media law that represents a setback for democratic values.
The center-right Fidesz Party, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, introduced the new media law soon after they were swept into power in last year’s elections.
All articles of the new legislation will take effect on July 1, despite criticism that it violates European legislation and restricts freedom of press.
“The legislation can still be misused to curb alternative and differing voices in Hungary despite modifications adopted following a request from the European Commission,” said Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.
Mijatovic said the law allows government to assess heavy fines against media outlets for loosely defined grounds and fails “to guarantee the political independence of public service media.”
The law forces all media in the nation to be regulated by a Media Council, whose members were chosen by the ruling Fidesz Party.
The head of the council was appointed by the prime minister and, like the members, could serve for at least nine years.
All of which means that, even if Fidesz does not win any more elections in Hungary, the party will still exert control over the media.
The Media Council is responsible for registration of all media outlets in Hungary, including TV, print and Internet.
“At the beginning, the authority will be interested to gain public legitimization and won’t impose high fines,” Bayer said. “But then, for example before the next elections, the Media Council may use the weapon it has in its hands for political purposes.”
It also has right to fine media for violating advertising rules and consumer rights.
Violations are punishable with fines up to 722,000 euros for TV and up to 180,000 euros for print and online outlets.
Judit Bayer, Hungarian media lawyer in Budapest, considers the new law a serious attack on the freedom of press.
“At the beginning, the authority will be interested to gain public legitimization and won’t impose high fines,” Bayer said. “But then, for example before the next elections, the Media Council may use the weapon it has in its hands for political purposes.”
Gabor Horvath, editor at the Nepszabadsag, a Hungarian national daily, said the lessons of Hungary’s new media law are clear.
“The new law proved that governments cannot be trusted and should be controlled in any political regime,” Horvath said. “Politicians always tend to subordinate press and this struggle will never end.”
Like Ukraine, Hungary is also highly polarized and divided, not along pro-Russian and pro-Western lines, but into left-right splits.
While opposition is weak, ruling parties in both nations – the Party of Regions in Ukraine and center-right Fidesz in Hungary – are grabbing power in all public spheres.
After getting 53 percent of votes in the parliamentary election in April 2010, Fidesz formed a coalition that commnot come hereands two thirds of the votes in parliament.
It enables the party to change any law in Hungary, including the Constitution, changes to which were passed in parliament last month.
“Everybody had illusions back in 1989 that if today we change our political regime then tomorrow we will change our ‘Zhyhuli’ for a ‘Volkswagen.’ Life, however, turned out to be more complicated,” said Gabor Horvath, editor at the Hungarian daily.
Critics say that Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, has already taken control over the executive, legislative and judicial branches in the nation – much like
the Yanukovych administration has done in Ukraine.
Orban’s next step would be to control the so-called “fourth estate” of power – the media.
It is clear that both nations are finding the path from communism to democracy a rough one.
“Everybody had illusions back in 1989 that if today we change our political regime then tomorrow we will change our ‘Zhyhuli’ for a ‘Volkswagen.’ Life, however, turned out to be more complicated,” said Gabor Horvath, deputy editor-in-chief of the Nepszabadsag, or People’s Freedom, a Hungarian daily.
According to Horvath, authorities in Hungary have been making unkept promises to the nation of 10 million people for years.
After Hungary joined European Union in 2004, the country received millions of euros for roads construction and other infrastructure projects. But the expected economic miracle never came.
Besides two giant rivers that cut through the two nations’ capitals, Budapest and Kyiv also share economic problems in shedding their communist pasts.
In 2008, Hungary received $28 billion from the International Monetary Fund and other lenders to avoid bankruptcy.
Ukraine also is a heavy borrower from the IMF, with a $16 billion line of credit.
Beggars and homeless people still can be seen in downtown Budapest as well as in the center of Kyiv.
Both nations were hit hard by the economic crisis and many young people started looking for jobs or educations outside their native countries.
Both nations are living examples that progress doesn’t always happen in straight lines. This is one media law Ukraine should not emulate.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Faryna can be reached at [email protected]
(Editor’s Note: Faryna’s trip to Hungary was funded by the European Commission.)
