Preliminary EU analysis on Hungarian media law is negative

Mon, 17 Jan 2011

Strasbourg, France - Hungary's controversial media law does not appear "at first sight" to respect European Union standards, a top official from the bloc's executive warned on Monday.

Hungary's conservative government has been facing a barrage of criticism since approving, on the eve of assuming the EU presidency on January 1, a law introducing stricter monitoring of the media, policed by a new authority staffed by pro-government officials.

Speaking to the European Parliament's committee for civil liberties, EU Commissioner for Digital Affairs Neelie Kroes, said she already contacted authorities "to raise specific points on which the Media Law does not appear at first sight to be satisfactory."

The bill was officially transmitted to Brussels only on Friday, but officials from the European Commission - the EU's executive - have already started studying the version published earlier on the Hungarian official journal, Kroes said.

Echoing remarks made last week, the commissioner said she was worried about "the lack of limiting criteria" on the obligations forcing all media, including bloggers and internet forums, to be officially registered and to provide "balanced information."

The commission is also "continuing to look at the difficult issue of criteria for media authority independence," Kroes indicated.

In addition, she pointed out that the application of the Hungarian law to foreign-based media "would seem to raise a problem" with the EU's Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive, which stipulates that media firms should be regulated in their country of origin.

However, Kroes said she was "fully confident" that Hungary would "ensure full respect of the European values on media freedom and relevant EU legislation, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights."

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban - who is due to face fresh criticism from lawmakers when he takes the EU parliament floor on Wednesday to present his EU presidency - has already said Hungary would correct the law if the commission's legal analysis revealed flaws in it.

But he also said that, in that case, the commission would have to target media laws in other EU countries, which, according to Orban, contain provisions similar to the Hungarian legislation.

Kroes vowed to make the still-to-be-delivered final assessment on the legality of the media law "in full objectivity."

In a further sop to Hungarian sensitivities, she said the commission was looking at how the AVMS directive was being implemented in other EU countries, and promised to "raise similar concerns where they are justified."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/362776,media-law-is-negative.html.