Brussels, 28/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 28 July, the European Commission spoke out against a new media tax which has just been introduced in Hungary, describing it as a serious threat to the pluralism of the media and inconsistent with European rules and values. “The (Hungarian) government is not just tolerating, but positively encouraging further direct threats to media pluralism”, said Commissioner for the Digital Strategy and the Media Neelie Kroes in an article published on her blog and in the Hugarian Centre-Left daily newspaper, Nepszabadsag. In 2010, the commissioner took action against the legislation on media control passed by Fidesz, the party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and succeeded in getting it amended.
The new Hungarian tax, which has been criticised by the media as a government stranglehold on the sector, comes as part of a raft of heavy tax burdens targeting economic sectors which are frequently dominated by foreign companies. It was adopted with no proper debate or consultation at the parliament and is almost certainly aimed at the Luxembourg media group RTL-Group, Europe's largest audiovisual media group, states the Commission. “The conclusion is obvious. RTL is one of the few channels in Hungary not simply promoting a pro-Fidesz line (…). The government does not want a neutral, foreign-owned broadcaster in Hungary; it is using an unfair tax to wipe out the democratic safeguards, and see off a perceived challenge to its power”, Commissioner Kroes argued, stressing that tax policy cannot be used as a weapon to serve political discrimination.
The Hungarian audiovisual landscape is largely dominated by broadcasters belonging to business persons with connections to the Fidesz party. However, Hungary is not the only country in the European Union which has experienced infringements on pluralism. This is also the case in Bulgaria, Italy and the United Kingdom, although the situations are different, Kroes stresses. Pointing out that objective media coverage is the main purpose of free and pluralist media, the commissioner calls on Europe to “put its house in order to ensure the freedom and pluralism of the press”. A number of proposals have been tabled to achieve this objective, particularly a report by the high-level group on the freedom and pluralism of the media chaired by Vaira Vike-Freiberga (and entitled “Free and pluralistic media to sustain European democracy”), and it is time for the European Union to start taking its content seriously, Neelie Kroes concluded. The chief executive of the Hungarian subsidiary of the RTL Group, Andreas Rudas, has announced that RTL is planning to challenge the tax before the European Court of Justice. (IL)