According to journalists, the Hungarian Prime Minister created the most powerful propaganda machine in Europe during his 13 years in power.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has launched a legislative initiative to establish a state Agency for the Protection of Sovereignty. The new agency will have the authority to detect and suppress “foreign influence on politics.” Bloomberg writes about this.
The new bill, introduced by the ruling Fidesz party on Tuesday (November 21), proposes to provide the new Sovereignty Protection Agency with adequate budgetary and institutional support, including intelligence services, to detect suspicious foreign attempts to influence policy. The bill states that the head of the department will be directly appointed by the prime minister of the state.
The bill provides criminal liability and up to three years in prison for politicians whose election campaigns are financed with money coming from abroad. It is also possible to ban activities of public institutions that violate the new rules.
Since the Fidesz group has a majority in parliament, the bill is almost certain to be approved in parliament.
The publication points out that the bill represents another authoritarian step by Orban aimed at consolidating his power.
“These moves, along with Orbán’s cozy relationship with authoritarian leaders from Moscow to Beijing, have made Hungary a disgrace to Europe and to Western allies in the EU and others, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Bloomberg said. NATO has increased tensions with its military alliance,” he writes.
The material says that during his 13 years in power, Orban created the most powerful propaganda machine in Europe, including “politically tamed” state media and more than 500 private media outlets in various formats. ruling party.
Although Fidesz had previously stated that the sovereignty bill would also affect foreign funding of the media, this is not explicitly mentioned in the text of the document submitted on 21 November. According to the publication, further developments will depend on how broadly the new agency will interpret its powers.
Let us remind you that Orban’s party hung banners against Brussels all over Hungary. According to the country’s prime minister, Budapest “should say no to the current European model.” Billboards featuring Ursula von der Leyen were dedicated to the European Parliament election campaign.
In October, the former head of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke in favor of removing Hungary from the EU on the grounds that it “supports terrorism”. The politician criticized the meeting between Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian leader Viktor Putin. Linas Linkevicius emphasized that the mechanisms of the European Union are “flawed” because such countries cannot be easily “eliminated”.
Previously Focus He wrote that the President of Hungary is trying to legitimize relations with the Russian Federation. According to Katalin Nowak, Budapest sees the war in Ukraine as an attack by Putin and the Russian Federation against a sovereign country. However, a mechanism now needs to be developed for Kiev and Moscow to sit at the negotiation table.
Source: Focus
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