In a letter addressed to his Dutch counterpart, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said the freedom of the press is fully guaranteed by Hungarian legislation, media operate on a market basis and the government of Hungary has “neither the right nor the intention to interfere in such matters in any way”.
Minister Varga said that he regretted to learn Wopke Hoekstra had told the Dutch daily De Volkskrant that the freedom of the press was restricted in Hungary. The minister said Hungarian media outlets operate on a market basis and everyday experience also showed “that there is real diversity in public debates and in the media in Hungary”.
“All objective analyses show that the market share of government-critical media in Hungary is well above 50 percent,” the minister said. “The vast majority of the most-read Hungarian online news portals strongly criticise the government, and a … Hungarian commercial TV channel with the highest viewership is among the most critical channels,” Minister Varga said.
Photo credit: Facebook/Varga Mihály
