European Parliament condemns Hungarian media law

European Parliament (EP) has passed a resolution condemning the Hungarian media law on Thursday, calling for the Hungarian government to change it. The most important objections include the law being biased and not independent.

The motion was submitted in February this year by the groups of Socialists, liberals, greens and the United Left, all of whom argued before the vote that the amendments to the media law passed by the governing parties in Hungarian Parliament earlier this week at the request of the European Commission were not satisfactory.

The resolution passed lists as the most problematic elements that the political and financial independence of the public service media is negated and expressions of key importance are left undefined as a consequence of which journalists cannot be aware when they might infringe the law.

The people’s party faction, of which the Hungarian governing party Fidesz is a member of, argued that the EU Commission and the Hungarian government already agreed on modifications to the law and Hungarian Parliament’s passing the amendments made the European Parliament vote unnecessary. Eventually, the resolution condemning the Hungarian media law was passed with 316 against 264 votes with the abstention of 33 EP members.