A response “by all financial, legal and political means” to the deterioration of media pluralism in Hungary. This is what the European monitoring mechanism Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) expect from the European institutions.
These organisations have repeatedly questioned EU leaders in recent days in reaction to the arbitrary dismissal on Wednesday 22 July of Szabolcs Dull, editor-in-chief of the Hungarian independent news website Index.
This is all the more worrying for the MFRR and EFJ, as it comes a few days after a European summit marked by a setback on the conditions for granting European funds related to the rule of law (see EUROPE 12532/2).
“Most media in Hungary are now either directly or indirectly controlled by the government, while the remaining independent media face tremendous financial pressure, discrimination in access to information and smear campaigns designed to undermine their legitimacy”, the two organisations deplored in a letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel (https://bit.ly/3hRKkLs ) on Tuesday 28 July.
Responsibility of the EU. In a statement issued on Wednesday 29 July, the EFJ pointed to the EU’s “particular responsibility” for the deterioration of press freedom in Hungary.
“Until 2014, the public National Development Office, as the main operator of EU funds, was one of the largest State advertisers in Hungary. From 2014 onwards, as the Office was closed down, all the EU funds are handled and distributed by the Hungarian government”, the organisation points out, referring to the section on Hungary (https://bit.ly/2PbxJXn ) in a report published a few days ago by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Freedom (see EUROPE 12535/23).
The EFJ therefore calls for an investigation into the use of these EU funds and the concentration of media ownership in Hungary.
It also calls for EU funds to be made available to enable journalists who resigned from Index in response to the dismissal of Mr Dull – more than 70 to date – to launch a new independent media outlet.
Article 7. Romanian MEP Dacian Cioloş, President of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, also deplored, on behalf of his group, that Hungary continues to “turn its back” on the fundamental values of the EU.
In a letter sent on Wednesday 29 July to Michael Roth, German Minister for European Affairs, Mr Cioloş also raised the issue of the link between the budget and the rule of law (see other news) and called on the German Presidency to investigate the situation of Index.
He also asked Berlin to speed up the Article 7 procedure in the EU Council (see EUROPE 12405/5). “Currently, the hearings are neither regular nor structured”, he regretted.
To read the letter: https://bit.ly/39Mtg6T (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)