Shift the Hungarian presidency of the European Union started seriously hampered by the debate on the controversial press law which came into force on day 1. The European agenda has been overshadowed by such a sensitive issue in Europe as the freedom of expression. The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, yesterday rejected criticism from France and Germany on the gag rule controversy."I challenge anyone to find something in our law that is not in the rules of other Member States," said Orban forceful tone during a meeting with European correspondents. The conservative leader, who has a two-thirds majority in Parliament, showed, however, their willingness to rectify the shooting but with conditions, stating that "if the EU will accept it pursues." And he said that if the procedure shows "we have no reason, accept it and correct it." "We are part of the group and the rules of the game," he said.
However, Orban acknowledged that "had started on the wrong foot." Orban said, however, that "the most important principle of the EU is that of non-discrimination, so that Hungary will not accept discriminatory treatment and only change the law if other countries do similar legislation. "I can not imagine," he said, "a situation in which it is said that this aspect of Hungarian law should be changed while the same in other countries does not need to be changed." Orban said he did not feel affected by the criticisms that have been compared to Hitler, Mussolini or Putin, and proclaimed champion of democracy.
"It's our baby, we've created and developed after the fight against communism," he said after its willingness to accept the considerations of Brussels. The Hungarian Government is meeting today with the plenary of the European Commission to address the Budapest program for the next six months of the Union.
The meeting will be marked by the controversial press law which the Hungarian EU executive has already expressed "doubts." Orban himself admitted that "tactically" was a mistake to pass this law in the past two months. The objectives of the Hungarian presidency will focus on the promotion of "growth, employment and social inclusion", to make a "stronger Europe".
The prime minister stressed as a priority "to strengthen the euro" because it is the best way to defend Europe. Hungary will promote the implementation of Semester first European to harmonize Member States' budgets and try to conclude negotiations for EU membership of Croatia and the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Treaty Scgen.
Also try that in June the EU has defined a strategy for the Roma. The controversial law on the Hungarian media has attracted much concern in the EU in recent days. The European Commission president, José Manuel Durão Barroso, said Wednesday that "press freedom is a sacred principle and a fundamental value in the European Union." Barroso said the European Commission has expressed "doubts" about the new law, but insisted it "will do everything possible dialogue with the Hungarian authorities to clarify the situation and dispel any doubts that may exist." In Germany, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Werner Hoyer, opposed to Hungary to speak on behalf of the EU on issues of press freedom.
"The right to speak on behalf of Europe," he said, "naturally implies a duty to respect the internal rules in order to represent Europe on the outside of a credible manner. Hungary is the most credible when it comes to discussing freedom press. " For his part, French government spokesman, François Baron, said that France wanted "a change of law" that in his opinion is "a profound alteration of press freedom." The doubts of the Commission, France and Germany are also shared by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who called the Hungarian law as an attack on press freedom "unprecedented in European democracies."
No comments:
Post a Comment