The much disputed new media law in Hungary, which came into force on 1st of January, is also discussed in AEGEE. Hungarian media can be fined up to 700,000 Euro for “unbalanced coverage”. This power is given to a Media Council that is elected by the Parliament – where the ruling party Fidesz currently enjoys a two-third majority. “In the eyes of many observers all over Europe, this law is an instrument to discipline Hungarian media and suffocate critical journalism,” says Thomas Leszke is his capacity as member of AEGEE-Köln.
“We all worry and try to find out what will happen, what we can do. There have been warning signs for many years that led to the current situations with highly polarised politics dominated by verbally and physically violence, political events in 2006, the popularity of nationalist sentiment, strengthening of extreme right party – and all was exacerbated by the economic crisis,” replied Anita Szabó from AEGEE-Budapest. “It would be great to find the way how AEGEE can raise its voice against situations like this.”
