Hungarian Politics

[Tamas]

I mentioned in another thread how I think the government have been bought by the Chinese, as evidenced by a growing number of stupidly disadvantageous business deals the state have made with China.

Latest one is the creation of the first foreign campus of the Fudan University in Budapest. Not only this officially Chinese Communist Party-supported university is going to have its first foray outside China there, but apparently the Hungarian government is spending 2 million pounds (to be fair peanuts compared to the other business deals) to purchase a building for them.

Seems like a great institution, this uni:



As the small cherry on the top, this campus will give graduates two diplomas: a Hungarian and an international one. This method was in fact the official reason why CEU had to be kicked out of the country. And now not only this Chinese uni gets to do the same thing, the government is financially supporting them to do so.

[Valmy]

What the hell? I thought all those far right nationalist types were supposed to also hate the Chinese? But it is just the Jews?

I wouldn't have felt so bad about 1956 if I knew this was what Hungarians wanted for a state.

[Tonitrus]

Probably the only far-right ones that hate the Chinese are the ones that haven't been paid.

[Tamas]

The Human Resources Minister said in a Facebook video posted as "interview" that "vaccine-related business, political, and prestige interests are not going to change, for certain". Then he proceeded to ask people not to view vaccines from a political point of view. 


This is of course mainly about the recent Hungarian approval of Sputnik V and the massive order they have placed with Russia. Needless to say this doesn't exactly have people thrilled. According to a newspaper, the approval wasn't even made by Hungarian trials, but simply by studying the (still in progress as I understand) stage 3 Russian results as published.


It is also worth having a brief look at the Human Resources Ministry. This is a super-ministry, concentrating what -once aptly described- "Orban doesn't care about". One minister and his state secretaries manage:
-healthcare
-education
-social, welfare, and employment policies


Plus all the smaller sub-fields which stem from the above.

It's as if (especially in light of the absolutely clueless old geezer in charge of it now) Gavin Williamson was put in charge of all of that stuff. Wonderful stuff.

[Tamas]

Oh and an opposition politician spent two months trying to gain access to the vaccination plans. He has been ping-ponged around 4 ministries as each refused to take responsibility for organising it and/or being the data steward for it.

Incompetence beyond belief.

[Sheilbh]

It's as if (especially in light of the absolutely clueless old geezer in charge of it now) Gavin Williamson was put in charge of all of that stuff. Wonderful stuff.

God

And Williamson would never accept the Russian vaccine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLr-jfbX0zM

[Sheilbh]

So this is not directly related to Hungary (though the same week an independent radio station in Hungary was shut down) on the spreading challenge to liberal democracy in CEE:

Inside Slovenia's war on the media

Prime Minister Janez Janša's attacks create climate of fear, journalists and watchdogs say.


Janez Janša began his career as a young Communist-turned-dissident in the former Yugoslavia, later becoming a right-wing politician | Jure Makovec/AFP via Getty Images
By Lili Bayer
February 16, 2021 4:05 am

The leader of one of the EU's smallest countries is waging a big campaign against journalists he doesn't like.

Slovenia's prime minister, Janez Janša, whose country takes over the Council of the EU's rotating presidency later this year, has repeatedly and publicly attacked the country's main public media outlets.

The right-wing populist leader, an admirer of Donald Trump, has referred to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) as a "national disgrace." He has accused public broadcasting organization Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV) of spreading "lies" and misleading the public, tweeting that "obviously there are too many of you and you are paid too well." And just this month, the prime minister called RTV — along with a private broadcaster — "irresponsible virus spreaders."

Janša's campaign has gone beyond rhetoric. Last summer, his government proposed changes to the country's media laws that would boost state influence over STA and reduce funding for RTV. State funding for the news agency was also temporarily halted late last year, sparking fears about its future.

The campaign has had a toxic effect on media freedom in the southeast European country, according to journalists, watchdogs and academics.

POLITICO spoke with over a dozen journalists, including senior staff at Slovenia's public media outlets. Many of them accuse Janša of whipping up hatred against public media reporters and editors, resulting in threatening phone calls, letters, emails and messages on social media. Journalists say the pressure has led to self-censorship and that some editors have resorted to calling police over threats.

And while some journalists say they have been able to continue reporting as usual, many covering Janša's government say political pressure is strongly felt in their daily work, affecting reporting on issues such as Hungarian investments in Slovenia, the role of far-right movements in the country and even Janša's Trump-boosting on Twitter.

Asked if the Slovenian Press Agency's independence is at risk, editor-in-chief Barbara Štrukelj said: "Absolutely."

Janša's moves directly contradict the EU's standards on media freedom — Commission Vice President Věra Jourová declared last year that "journalists should be able to report without fear or favor." And the pressure comes at a time when concerns are growing about media freedom and plurality across much of Central and Eastern Europe — in particular in Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria.

"The pressure I feel right now is strong," said one senior Slovenian journalist working for public media, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The "experience in the past months is something really new and unprecedented."

Watchdogs have also expressed concerns.

"Janez Janša's attitude toward Slovenia's public media is not merely aggressive or standoffish. Frankly, it's venomous," said Noah Buyon, a research analyst at think tank Freedom House, which tracks the state of democracy in the region.

Janša's 'war'

The prime minister began his career as a young Communist-turned-dissident in the former Yugoslavia, later becoming a right-wing politician.

It's a path that closely mirrors that of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close Janša ally who has moved to exert greater control of his own country's media industry. Like Orbán, Janša is not in his first stint as prime minister — he served from 2004 until 2008, and then briefly again in 2012-13, before returning to power last March.

Janša's "Communist past is reflected and influences this contemporary attitude towards the media, which is the attitude of a person who does not want to see any criticism of himself," said Marko Milosavljević, a professor of journalism and media policy at the University of Ljubljana.

When Janša came back to power last March, "this aggressive attitude towards the media and journalism was immediately seen," Milosavljević noted, citing the draft media laws as an attempt to put the media "on a leash."

A fixture of the region's political scene for over three decades, Janša leads the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), a member of the European People's Party, with an iron fist. But unlike Orbán, Janša governs as part of an unstable multiparty coalition, a reality that limits his room for maneuver.

Nevertheless, coalition politics has not stopped Janša from taking direct aim at journalists.

In a May 2020 essay titled "War with the Media," Janša insisted there were "capable, professional and ethical journalists" at major publicly funded media outlets who were being silenced by senior female editors, although he didn't present any specific evidence.

"An atmosphere of intolerance and hatred is being created by a small circle of female editors, having both family and capital connections with the pillars of the deep state," Janša wrote.

The prime minister — nicknamed "Marshal Twito" — also frequently uses social media to berate individual media outlets and journalists.

After the board overseeing RTV picked a new director-general in late January — in a process so contentious that one of the candidates has now launched a lawsuit — the prime minister tweeted a clip from the broadcaster's coverage, writing: "hopefully the new broom will fix such false reporting."

Janša's allies also currently run multiple pro-government news outlets, partially with the help of investors linked to Hungary's Orbán. These outlets have taken an active role in amplifying rhetoric targeting public media.

"STA in the service of the deep state!" reads one December headline on the website of Nova24TV, a pro-Janša channel.

The prime minister has dismissed journalists' concerns. Janša told POLITICO that it is he and his party who face threats — pointing to anti-government protesters who have adopted the phrase smrt janšizmu — a play on a Yugoslav partisan slogan — meaning "death to Janšism."

Slovenian officials close to the prime minister say unprofessional journalists are the problem.

"There is a complete freedom of press in Slovenia," Foreign Minister Anže Logar, a member of Janša's SDS, told POLITICO in an interview.

The problem with Slovenian media, Logar said, is that it is not equally "distributed between left and right side — so it's very one-sided," adding that the country needs more "professionalism" in order to distinguish "political activism from journalism."   

Under pressure

Journalists say that personal attacks both from senior officials and the pro-government press have put a strain on their work.

"You cannot work normally," said a second journalist working for public media, who, like most reporters, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The journalist described the climate for reporters as "very stressful and very brutal."

In an open letter published last October, 22 Slovenian editors warned that the country's free press was in danger, saying local journalists "are subjected to direct lying, insinuations, manipulations and insults from those in power, starting with the top of the government."

In some instances, journalists say the anti-media rhetoric has translated into hostility in the form of threatening phone calls and messages. "You are a whore's child, you are shit. When you go to sleep remember who you are," said one anonymous letter addressed to a female RTV journalist and cited in a recent report by the Slovenian Association of Journalists.

"People have become frightened," said a third journalist, who holds a senior role in a public media outlet. Female journalists are particularly targeted: "If a woman does a story, everybody says 'she's a whore, she's a bitch,'" the journalist said, adding that "psychologically, this situation is like a war."

Staff also point to institutional pressures. Two journalists cited RTV's Program Council — whose members are in part selected by Slovenia's national assembly — as a source of indirect coercion on editors. The council has the power to appoint and dismiss RTV's head, as well as approve the broadcaster's business plans.

In another sign of public authorities influencing the media, Slovenian outlets reported earlier this month that the government had blocked public health officials from appearing on RTV and on a commercial channel — a development that watchdog groups, including the International Press Institute, decried.

Then there's the issue of taxpayer funding for state media and potential changes to local media laws.

About half of STA's revenue comes from its role as a public news service. While some public funding for the agency was restored in January following criticism both domestically and from the European Commission, its future financing remains uncertain. In early February the government proposed an amendment that would change the organization's ownership structure.

Janša's administration rebuts any allegations of coercion. "At no point in time," said the government communications office, has the government placed "any form of editorial pressure on STA."

Asked about the proposed legal changes put forward last summer — which are still under consideration — the office said the legislation "does not pose a threat to freedom of the press in any conceivable way."

Still, the moves have left many staffers deeply concerned. Multiple public media employees said self-censorship is occurring.

"We'd rather not touch some stories," said a fourth journalist working for public media, adding that public media occasionally avoids in-depth reporting on Hungarian money in Slovenia, as well as institutions such as the police and concerns regarding far-right groups in the country.

A fifth journalist, who works for STA, recalled being told off by an official for asking questions about the prime minister's tweets boosting Donald Trump's false claims of U.S. voter fraud — and then being "advised by my colleagues not to pick a fight."

On-air, reporters have "started to become really careful" when discussing the government, said a sixth journalist.

Some public media employees acknowledge, however, that political pressure in Slovenian media is not new.

"We have pressures also when a left-wing government is in power," but "it's more organized" under the current leadership, said a seventh journalist working for public media.

The Slovenian government rejects the notion that some journalists are self-censoring.

"Since the media is predominately connected to the left centers of capital and political power, it goes without saying that there is absolutely no form of self-censorship occurring in Slovenian media outlets," the government's communication office said.

Some voices within public media also say that concerns are overblown.

Janša "can't censor anyone" and "has no real influence" in mainstream media, said Jadranka Rebernik, head of the parliamentary program on RTV. "I think there's a lot of dramatization in Slovenia right now," she added, saying RTV is "harder on this government than the previous one" and "should be politically impartial and independent."

But for many journalists, the outlook for Slovenia's media is bleak.

"Press freedom is more and more in danger," said Petra Lesjak Tušek, president of the Slovenian Association of Journalists.

"Few countries in Europe have experienced such a swift downturn in press and media freedom."

Striking that this is by another EPP party. I really feel like the EPP and especially their "establishment" parties in Western Europe like the CDU-CSU, Benelux Christian Democrats, the Republicans etc are really acting like McConnell to Trump. They'll issue the odd statement noting their concern, but are enabling this sort of thing through their inaction

Edit: And also relevant the Slovenian Ministry of Culture have responded on Twitter:

Ministrstvo za kulturo
@mk_gov_si
Feb 16
.@POLITICOEurope shows an extraordinairy level of political bias in its latest article on the phantom "war on media" in Slovenia.
Facts:
1) Slovenian private media is predominately owned by media tycoons close to leftist political parties.
2) @govSlovenia has handed out €2.6 million in an open tender to (mostly left-wing) media, as well as tens of millions of euros in covid19 relief.
3) PM has been critical of media which undermine Covid19 safety restrictions, yet has never pushed for editorial influence.
4) If journalists are "fearful" reporting about Hungarian investments in Slovenia they don't seem show to it. The topic is being widely covered (many times with gross exaggerations, hiding the fact that all the Hungarian-owned media don't even cover 5% of the media landscape).
5) As a recent analysis on media plurality conducted by Ljubljana based Faculty of Media shows: most  mainstream media have a heavy left-wing, pro-oposition, anti-government editorial stance. This goes against anonymous reports that reporters are being forced into self-censorship
6) @RTV_Slovenija is not being defunded. Loss of income suffered from reallocation of a small part of the RTV fee will be compensated by a more liberal legislature on ad allowances. @govSlovenia already funded RTV with €2.1 million additional funds in Covid19 relief.

As has the Prime Minister (with, I assume, a typo):

Janez Janša
@JJansaSDS
Well, @liliebayer was instructed not to tell the truth, so she quoted mainly "unknown" sources from the extreme left and purposely neglected sources with names and integrity. That's @POLITICOEurope, unfortunately. Laying for living.

[Syt]

Well, here the chancellor only attacks the state prosecutors who are investigating his right hand man for corruption.

Media corruption is handled differently - the government is one of the biggest sources of ad revenue for papers and magazines. And positive coverage tends to net bigger checks than being critical.

[Tamas]

Yes, Slovenia seems to be joining Poland in copying the Hungarian cookbook on creating a modern autocracy. Then again the Hungarian version is a very close copy of the Russian method, they just added humungous amounts of embezzled EU money for quicker cook time and added flavour.

In Poland the new tax on advertisements is classic Hungary 2011. I expect it will be accompanied with increasing advertisement spending by state-owned companies, making money directly controlled by party loyalists the only reliable way to survive on the media market.

[Tamas]

One of the very Mafia state-like things about Hungary at the moment is that while the entire hospitality sector is forced closed with next no state support, casinos are allowed to remain open. Only thing that applies to them is the 8PM curfew.

They are also pretty much the only business left where cash registers are not required to be online connected to tax authority servers.

The explanation seems self-evident of course. All casinos in the country are in hands of a few Orban-friendly oligarchs, and, I assume, a casino's on-paper income is one of the most convenient ways to launder money. And since the stealing and bribery have not decreased during the pandemic, they can't really afford to close the laundry machines down.

[Tamas]

With vaccination just crawling ahead and the 2nd wave of the virus being swept away by the 3rd wave, the government ensures priorities are kept and important matters are not held back by unnecessary red tape. Therefore, they have declared 3 projects "critical to the national interest" so that normal tendering processes can be skipped and the suppliers can be just appointed without competition:

1. The handball Europa Cup held together with Slovakia in 2022
2. Investments necessary for Hungary's successful participation in the Dubai World Fair
3. Purchasing the licence to hold a MotoGP race in Hungary

[The Brain]

I'm critical of the national interest.

[Josquius]

So I guess everyone is drinking at casino bars?

[Sheilbh]

One for Tamas - lots of interest here:
http://hungarianmoney.eu/

Summary/intro:

In 10 years the Hungarian government paid at least 670 million euros of grants to national minority organisations abroad –– based on decisions by a government fund totalling at more than 1,4 billion euros. The difference in public spending records connected to indirect financing of political parties, media buying and supporting the church is substantial, yet remains a mystery.

OVERVIEW

Hungarian communities living mostly in impoverished, rural areas in neighboring countries have seen an unprecedented influx of money in recent years. Churches were renovated, schools were built, and NGOs working in these communities could run their programs without worrying about finances.

Since the 1990s, the various Hungarian governments have always helped the 2,2 million nationals living in neighboring countries to maintain their cultural, educational and religious institutions. Without these grants, many of them could not function over the long term.

After Orbán won the election for the second time in 2010, the number and amounts of grants and other programs targeting Hungarians living abroad began to increase substantially in 2016.

The transparency of the grants decisions is disputable. There is no single, centralised, easily searchable and up-to date public database that offers clear and machine-readable information about the projects that were financed with taxpayers' money. While there are public calls for small grants where everyone can apply, the criteria upon which the big amounts are decided is not published.

This project is based on scraped data and documents about Bethlen Gábor Fund (Bethlen Gábor Alap, BGA) decisions and payments to minority organizations from the National Tenders database. BGA is the largest state fund and is focused on supporting Hungarian organisations abroad.

BGA did not answer questions by the regional group of journalists which concerned public spending safeguards, reporting issues, irreconcilable data between contracts and decisions, and other findings.

[Tamas]

The transparency of the grants decisions is disputable. There is no single, centralised, easily searchable and up-to date public database that offers clear and machine-readable information about the projects that were financed with taxpayers' money. While there are public calls for small grants where everyone can apply, the criteria upon which the big amounts are decided is not published.

And this is all you need to know on why this is happening.