Prime Minister Péter Magyar said it was bizarre that Viktor Orbán should be concerned about press freedom. In a Facebook post on Saturday, Magyar said “there is something quite bizarre about a failed prime minister, who earlier called journalists insects to be trampled on, now worrying about press freedom…”
In an interview published online by Magyar Nemzet on Saturday, the former PM said, among other things, that “the government wants to silence the right-wing public, is refusing to fulfil marketing and media contracts, is freezing accounts and failing to make bank transfers.” He added: “The new government publicly insults and slanders right-wing journalists at press events.”
Viktor Orbán claimed the new government is after the right-wing
Former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accused the government of taking action against the right-wing public sphere in an interview published on Saturday on the online edition of Magyar Nemzet. The former prime minister said that the authorities were seeking to silence right-wing media outlets by failing to honour marketing and media contracts, freezing accounts and withholding transfers, writes MTI.
He added that the “Balásy case” was not about accountability, but rather “a cold-blooded political operation aimed at paralysing the right-wing public sphere”. Orbán also remarked that members of the new government had publicly insulted and vilified right-wing journalists at press events. “They should understand that they have got things the wrong way round,” he said, adding that the press asks questions and politicians respond in a normal and civilised manner.
They should not back off, says Orbán
At the same time, he argued that “the press must not behave timidly either; if it gives up its self-respect, it deserves to be walked all over”. Speaking about the election, the politician said his side had lost among young voters, and by a dramatic margin. Understanding the reasons for this, he said, would be the most important task in the coming period, requiring the full knowledge and capacity of the right-wing intellectual community.
The president of Fidesz stressed that, after sixteen years in government, not merely a parliamentary term but an entire era had come to an end. He claimed their opposition work would be based on the conviction that this had been the most successful period of the past hundred years in Hungary, and the most successful sixteen years of Hungarian civic development, providing a firmer foundation for opposition politics than the four-year period following the 2002 election defeat.
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Featured image: Péter Magyar/Facebook
