Budapest, 06/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Hungarian Presidency of the EU has got off to a “bad start” due to the “exaggerated” controversy surrounding two new pieces of legislation adopted in Hungary on the media and taxation. The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, said that this situation was “regrettable” but did not in any way mean that the two reforms were not necessary or fair. Orban informed a group of European journalists on 6 January in Budapest: “Yes, this is a bad start (…) No one likes to start an EU presidency like this, but I did not write the script. We adopted laws (on media and taxation) that we thought were perfectly OK but now they are criticised. This is democracy, there is nothing we can do, but I will defend our laws because we have clear reasons to consider them good”. Although he is defending the content of these new laws tooth and nail, he does, nonetheless, recognise that he committed a “tactical mistake” by introducing these measures just before Hungary took over the European presidency.
On Friday 7 January, Orban and his government will welcome José Manuel Barroso and the college of European commissioners to Budapest to mark the beginning of operations for the Hungarian presidency.
Law on the media. Orban significantly downplayed the views expressed on 5 January by the Hungarian foreign affairs minister, Janos Martonyi, who suggested that Hungary would possibly agree to amend its law on the media if Commission legal experts deemed certain provisions were contrary to Community law or the Charter of Fundamental Rights (EUROPE, yesterday). Orban said that amendments to the law would be possible but only if other member states that had the same proposals amended their respective laws as well. The Hungarian Prime Minister explained that the disputed Hungarian law was in fact an amalgam of provisions that already existed in other member states such as Denmark, France and Germany. He said that in Hungarian law “there is not a single legal disposition which cannot be found in the media law of another EU state”. Orban insisted that if Hungary is compelled to introduce amendments to the law, other countries should also make the same changes “because Hungary will never accept any discrimination”.
Paris and Berlin overtly criticised. Orban also overtly criticised the French and German governments, which had all too swiftly criticised Hungary's law on the media “without having read it”. He described these positions as being “unnecessary and hasty”. He informed journalists: “I'm very happy that the Germans have come back to reality and have negated the too early statement. I also expect the French to do the same”. The Hungarian prime minister also said that without knowing the details of the law, “no single country has the right to criticise Hungary and to tell it what it has to do”.
Economic nationalism? The Hungarian prime minister rejected the deluge of comments in the international press about the “authoritarian and nationalist” style of the Orban government (which has a two thirds majority in parliament) and asserted that these comments “do not hurt me a lot but do hurt and insult Hungary, which is a democratic country”. Orban also categorically refuted accusations of “economic nationalism” levelled against him by certain observers, following the recent introduction of the new “crisis taxes”, which mainly target foreign banks and companies in Hungary. He affirmed that the well-known “crisis tax” certainly did pack a punch but only against large operators in certain specific economic sectors (banks, telecommunications and energy) but was not in any way discriminatory because it also affected Hungarian firms, which are those mainly having to pay the tax. He also said that similar measures had also been taken in other member states but had not created such a furore. Hungarian manufacturing industry is exempted in an effort to protect its competitiveness against countries such as China and Brazil.
Schengen. In the context of Bulgaria and Romania joining the Schengen area, Orban openly contradicted France and Germany, which are seeking to have this decision delayed. He said that “going against the opinion of some member states, the Hungarian Presidency is firmly committed to accepting Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen zone”.
Budgetary deficit, public debt. Orban claimed that he had reduced his country's budgetary deficit from 7.5% to 3.8% (since his government entered office at the end of December 2010). The 2011 target is to bring it down to 3%. Public debt (currently standing at 80% of GDP) will be reduced “from 70 to 73%” by the end of this government's mandate in 2014. The government also intends to amend the Hungarian constitution (which dates back to 1949) over the next few months by introducing provisions to it as a way of capping the budget deficit (3% of GDP) and public debt (50% of GDP). (H.B./transl.fl)