Fidesz: Telekom cancellation of singer’s sponsorship deal reminiscent of Communist era

Budapest (MTI) – Magyar Telekom’s decision to cancel a sponsorship agreement with Hungarian pop singer Akos Kovacs over his comments on the role of women in society is reminiscent of the cultural policy of Communist Hungary, the ruling Fidesz party’s parliamentary group leader said on Sunday.

“Comrade [Gyorgy] Aczel walks among us,” Lajos Kosa said, referring to the prominent culture minister of the Communist era.

On Wednesday Magyar Telekom, the local unit of Deutsche Telekom, decided to cancel its sponsorship agreement with Kovacs over the singer’s comments on the role of women.

“The role of women is not to make as much money as men,” the singer said in an interview with private television channel Echo TV. When asked what the role of women was, the singer said it was “belonging to someone, giving birth … being mothers”.

Kosa said Kovacs has a right to express his private opinion, and anyone who disagrees with him should have challenged that opinion instead of taking revenge. The Fidesz group leader said Telekom’s move was reminiscent of Aczel’s cultural policy in the Communist era, which viewed art on the basis of political affiliation instead of cultural value.

As a counterexample, Kosa noted that Robert Alfoldi, the former director of the National Theatre, was invited as a tour guide to a local government institution in Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, when he was locked in a tight battle for directorship of the National Theatre with Fidesz-backed Attila Vidnyanszky. “We supported Vidnyanszky,” Kosa said, adding, however that the Debrecen leadership never considered not inviting Alfoldi.

Kosa insisted that he wholeheartedly agrees with House Speaker Laszlo Kover’s opinion expressed at last week’s Fidesz congress that “family does not get in the way of women’s self-fulfillment.”

The group leader noted that since 2010, the government has implemented a number of benefits for women to help them align their careers with their maternal responsibilities: child support benefits have been increased, kindergarten entry age has been lowered and women have also been given the chance to retire early after 40 years of work.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters