BREAKING: Euronews bought by Orbán-close company

According to leaked documents, an Orbán-close company bought Euronews, a European television news network headquartered in Brussels, by ultimately using Hungarian taxpayers’ money.

Government-close businessman bought Euronews

Three years ago, many were shocked to read that one of PM Orbán’s old friends and advisors, the son of a Portuguese politician, bought Euronews, Europe’s international TV channel. They refer to themselves as a news hub covering world news from a European perspective. Furthermore, they reach 400 million households in 160 countries in the world with their multilingual news service.

According to Direkt36, the acquisition happened using the Hungarian taxpayers’ money and through one of the companies of Gyula Balásy. 444.hu writes that Balásy is one of the Hungarian businessmen getting rich with the help of Antal Rogán, the minister of the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister, often mentioned as Orbán’s propaganda minister.

Direkt36, Le Monde and Expresso revealed multiple documents stating that the EUR 150 million business was financed by Hungarian state and government-close players.

Who is the buyer?

In 2021, a Portuguese investor, the Alpac Capital, bought Euronews. The CEO of the company is Pedro Vargas David, a Portuguese businessman. He has a joint investment company with the Hungarian state-owned Exim Bank. Furthermore, he has interests in the 4iG, a Hungarian company that bought Vodafone Hungary with the government. His father is Mario David, a right-wing Portuguese politician. Mr David has been a friend of Viktor Orbán for decades. What’s more, before the purchase, Orbán employed him as his advisor.

The Hungarian press already knew that before Direkt36’s fact-finding article. However, we did not know that a Hungarian state fund gave EUR 45 million for the acquisition. The Széchenyi Alapok (Széchenyi Funds) placed that money in the European Future Media Investment Fund, the fund actually buying the pan-European TV channel.

Gyula Balásy’s company worked overpriced?

Another investor of the European Future Media Investment Fund was New Land Media. The latter gave a EUR 12.5 million long-term loan to the former. New Land Media is in the interest of Gyula Balásy. Balásy’s companies received hundreds of billions of forints in the last ten years from the government for “propaganda”, 444.hu wrote.

Péter Magyar, the ex-husband of former Justice Minister Judit Varga, said in his first interview with Partizán that as the head of the state-owned Diákhitel Ldt (the company responsible for student loans in Hungary), he should have signed contracts with another company of Balásy, which, according to Magyar, created low-quality content overpriced. Magyar said, among others, that is why he decided to leave the ‘Orbán world’ and created a new opposition political movement which is quite successful. Magyar’s party was registered for the 2024 European parliamentary elections yesterday and may become the second biggest party in Hungary after 9 June.

Government, Euronews know nothing

Based on the sources of Direkt36, there is no sign that the new owners interfered with the work of the editorial staff. However, it is hard to imagine a Hungarian government-close business player would ever invest in an international media hub without political reasons.

Bertalan Havasi, the prime minister’s press chief, said they know nothing about the transaction. The managing director told Direkt36 the same: they knew nothing about the Hungarian state’s role in the acquisition.

Read also:

• Unexpected: The New York Times left Hungary! – Read more HERE
• Not surprisingly, only a quarter of Hungarians trust the state news services

Featured image: PM Orbán in Brussels in 2018. Photo: depositphotos.com