Hungary – always the bad example

International press review – what do other countries say about Hungary?

In a recent article, Népszava has reviewed international news outlets and media to see how they depict Hungary.

Financial Times

“State ownership is back in the spotlight.”

Central and Eastern Europe’s significant state involvement does not result in faster growth, nor does it help in catching up to the West. Moreover, it might even be preventing the latter from happening, and in Hungary, capitalism and favouritism of friends’ businesses are starting to be a bigger problem than state companies not being very efficient. A recent study has revealed that enterprises of public ownership in the region are much less profitable and productive than their competition from the private markets. The point is to have a competitive, well-managed market. But in the region, it seems like there is no independent supervision or management. These companies have no clear goals, lack strict financial accounting, reporting, and audits.

“State ownership is back in the spotlight,” says the outlet, as it might be more profitable from a political standpoint, but in these companies and banks, profit and productivity depend a lot of the times on the power-holding party’s decisions.

These companies are popular as they protect national interests and filter out outside competition, but they also help get government money or even influence, similarly to how in Poland, state-owned companies are advertised in conservative media but hardly ever appear in liberal media.

Economist

“The global gag on free speech is tightening.”

The article brings Hungary up as an example of the lack of free speech globally. And this part of Europe is allegedly democratic. But Fidesz is using tax money to control public speech. MTI is full of their minions, but the news agency provides free news to the public and other outlets. However, this leads to journalists and the public complaining about propaganda being pushed even from independent outlets.