• Home
• Channel: Current Affairs
• Hungary is 'Freer Than Western Europe', Claims Minister Gulyás

Hungary is 'Freer Than Western Europe', Claims Minister Gulyás

• 14 Mar 2023 1:57 PM
• Hungary Matters

Hungary is “considerably freer than countries in Western Europe”, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office told a conference on Monday, citing conditions in the Hungarian media as “clear evidence”.

Gergely Gulyás insisted that mainstream media in Hungary covered “very different values from the extreme left to the radical right”.

Every ideology is present and “everybody has an opportunity to participate in discussions about topics of public interest”, he added. In Western Europe, by comparison, “the press that branded itself conservative before has by now given up its positions on all important issues,” Gulyás said.

“Press freedom in Hungary cannot be questioned, everybody can publish in line with their own orientation and nobody will be stigmatised for their opinion,” he added.

The 21st century is “threatening with left-liberal themes becoming exclusive” and “those that won’t accept that could be excluded from politics”, Gulyás said.

“But central Europe has some strong resistance from this point of view … Hungary has not given up the goal that ‘normalcy’ should continue to be promoted,” he said.

“Inevitable” social changes now under way in Western Europe “do not favour the conservative world”, Gulyás said, and raised concern if “principles and foundation that can make society operational in the long run, and which are accepted by everyone as right and undisputable could be maintained”.

Gulyás said the European Union “tries to amplify the voice of forces that failed to win a majority at the general election in a member state”.

He insisted that “political objectives” not supported by the majority “are promoted through blackmail, cutting funds, threats and removing [a member’s] voting rights”, adding that it was an “anti-democratic experiment”.

The Hungarian government must participate in Europe’s debates on issues of public interest, and Hungary’s think tanks should follow suit, Gulyás said.

“The more forums for putting one’s position forward, the more chance for success for the government’s policy aimed at preserving the national character,” he insisted.

MTI Photo: Tamás Kovács

• How does this content make you feel?
• I love it
• I like it
• I dislike it

• Western Europe Minister Gulyás

XpatLoop Media Partner

Hungary Matters

Launched in January 2014, this newsletter published on week days covers 'everything you need to know about what’s going on in Hungary and beyond', according to its publisher the state media agency MTI.

Explore More Reports

Hungary to Decide on Every Price Cap Scheme Two Weeks Before They Expire

• 24 Mar 2023 9:46 AM

Measures aimed at curbing inflation will remain in place until there is a noticeable improvement, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office told a news briefing, adding that inflation had slowly started to decline and was expected to fall into single digits by the end of the year.



This is How Orbán Rolls: HUF 5.5 Million Spent on Accommodation for One Night in Vienna

• 24 Mar 2023 8:29 AM

After a long wait, we have finally received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs how much the luxury trip of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his 40-person entourage to Vienna cost to the taxpayers last July. Although the Austrian capital is just a few hours’ drive from Budapest, Orbán and his delegation spent a night out for a brief meeting with the Austrian chancellor.



"Everything Hungarian is Contained in Petőfi” - 15 March Holiday Speech Summary

• 16 Mar 2023 6:40 AM

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán marked the 175th anniversary of the 1848-49 revolution and freedom fight at the birthplace of Hungary's national poet, Sándor Petőfi, in Kiskőrös, in the south of the country.



March 15th is "Universal Celebration Of Hungary's Freedom"

• 15 Mar 2023 7:56 AM

March 15 “is once and for all the universal celebration of Hungarian freedom”, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said at a ceremony handing over state awards on the occasion of Hungary’s national holiday.