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The government of Viktor Orbán is accused of having given more than 1 billion euros in illegal subsidies to the pro-government media, adding to the concerns that state support is used to strengthen the grip of the Hungarian leader on power.
Two Hungarian media – Magyar Hang (Hungarian voice) and a second which asked for anonymity – told the Financial Times on Monday that they aimed to file a complaint with the European Commission.
They claim that advertising revenues have been channeled to pro-Orbán newspapers, television stations and online platforms between 2015 and 2023 to support the ruling party and to exhaust critical journalism.
Orbán, the most pro-Russian chief in the EU, has been faced for years the block for his goal of turning Hungary in an “illiberal” state. Brussels has frozen on several occasions and recovered the EU funds and the Bloc courts ruled against its measures to limit the independence of the judiciary, the media and the education system.
The Prime Minister used EU funds to reward political allies in the past.
He nicknamed the partnership between the government and the private sector as a “national cooperation system”.
The alleged use of state subsidies has coincided with a campaign to rid the media of the country criticizing the government, according to Kai-Uwe Kühn, a former European competition official who wrote an economic study accompanying the complaint. “You really see after someone has taken over a newspaper and transforms it into a newspaper aligned by the government, advertising is starting to increase considerably,” he said.
Kühn said that the data of his report indicates a causal link between the alleged illegal help and the pro-governmental position of the medium-which distorts competition in the Hungarian media market in favor of pro-Orbán points of sale.
During his stay in power, Orbán has more and more tightened his handle On the media of Hungary and exhausted alternative views. Several independent titles have collapsed or have been sold to figures related to the government in recent years. Press freedom dogs, such as journalists without borders, have classified Hungary among the lowest in the EU for media freedom.
Independent outlets are increasingly difficult to operate, state subsidies further distorting the landscape, said Lukács Csaba, managing director of Magyar Hang. “We receive defamation campaigns, we are prosecuted.”
His complaint comes after other Hungarian points of sale in 2019 raised the question of illegal state aid with the Commission to groups favorable to the government in the form of public advertisements.
A commission spokesman said that the assessment of this complaint was “underway”.
“We are trying to increase the pressure on the commission to move quickly,” said Oliver Bretz de Euclid Law, the law firm supporting the complainants. If it was another industrial sector and not the media, the commission “would not have been sat as long as they did,” he said. “It is a blatant state aid.”
In parallel, the Commission also pursues the government of Hungary on a security law Because Brussels maintains that it violates the EU rules on private life, freedom of expression and freedom of association.
The general elections of next year promise to be a first significant test for Orbán, including the Fidesz party fell behind the opposition For the first time in opinion polls last year.
Tisza, a new opposition group led by Péter Magyar – a former member of Fidesz who was disillusioned with the Prime Minister – criticized Orbán's strategy aimed at extending his control over the media, courts and economics.
Tisza made a solid performance in the European elections of last year, positioning Magyar as the first serious challenger of the rule of the decades of Orbán.
The Hungarian government has not responded to a request for comments.
A commission spokesman said they had “no specific comments” on this particular complaint.
Additional Marton Dunai reports in Budapest
