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| Zoltán Kovács, |
click to watch and, or read the interview
“Opposition media closed down, moves to make
the justice and banking systems dependent on the government. The
President of the European Commission expressing concern about a decline
in democracy, what exactly is happening in Hungary? Your chance now to
ask questions to Hungary’s Minister of State for Government
Communication, Zoltan Kovacs who is joining us from Budapest. Hello from
Budapest Mr. Kovacs.
‘Just one question isn’t it already rather alarming that your job
exists. Most governments have a spokesperson but a minister for
communication doesn’t speak volumes about the problems?
Zoltan Kovacs: “Well this office exists basically from the very
beginning of our governance that is from May 2010 and there is a good
reason for that, political communication is just one element of my job.”
Euronews: “Ok well let’s have a first question here on I talk for Budapest.”
“Hello Mr Minister. My name is Timo Macala I come from Finland, a
country that you certainly know all about because of our relations.
Being a former journalist I’m interesting to know whether any progress
has been made in connection of freedom of speech and freedom of
expression; the problems raised last year, by the Commission for
example. Could you elaborate on that please? Thank you.”
Euronews: “There was a big debate last year already about Club
Radio. We saw many reports about that being closed down does the
opposition have any right of speech in Hungary at the moment and if so
where?”
Zoltan Kovacs: “Well the question itself is bizarre. The freedom of
speech and the plurality of the media is alive and kicking in this
country. As a matter of fact a year ago we have passed a new law and
that was after 14 years of deadlock concerning the public media and also
the implementation of the so called audio visual standards introduced
by the European Union.”
Euronews: “But why is the European Parliament so worried about your policies and why are certain journalists on hunger strike?”
Zoltan Kovacs: “Well you can always get one or two examples of
extreme formulation of opinion but I really would like to object to
making any kind of generalisation of that. So as a mater of fact
pointing out the Club Radio issue or the hunger strike, they are just
two misleading examples of extreme expression of opinion. If you look
around in this country you will experience that it is absolutely free in
speech. We as the government receive as many criticisms as is possible,
so you look around and you see that the freedom of speech is alive and
kicking in this country.”
Euronews: “Ok lets have another question to Mr. Kovacs in Budapest.”
“Hello, my name is Alessandra. I am a Belgian student. A friend of
mine has been in Hungary and she has explained me about her trip, about
the discrimination against the Roma people in your country and we were
wondering what you are doing with the Human Rights Charter, with the
respect to the people in your country.
Euronews: “ When your prime minister came to the European Parliament
Daniel Cohn-Bendit talked of a return to a totalitarian state and said
the Jewish people, the Roma people have reason to be afraid of the 47
members of the extreme right in your parliament.”
Zoltan Kovacs: “Well there are so many other countries in Europe
where the extreme right, or far right parties are present. I would like
to remind you the Roma issue is not a new phenomenon in Hungary neither
in central Europe as a matter of fact in Europe at all. We have been
living together with the Roma for about five, six centuries and
certainly after the fall of communism a lot should have been done to be
able integrate these people in the way Western European society would
expect. That is why last year in the first half of the presidency when
the Hungarian government was given the presidency we have introduced our
initiative for having a European Roma strategy and as a matter of fact
we were the first country among the 27 member states who have already
submitted our ideas about how to proceed with this kind of Roma
strategy.”
Euronews: “But why do you think that the President of the European
Commission, why has Hilary Clinton both written to your prime minister
expressing concerns about democracy and the treatment of minorities?”
Zoltan Kovacs: “That is a curious question. Raising general concern
is again to be considered a kind of political opinion. As a matter of
fact we were the government after eight years of mis-management and
mis-government who introduced measures that were against the far right.
We forbade the parading of para-military organisations. We have
introduced a Roma strategy that is giving the Roma people prospect to
integrate and as a matter of fact it is Budapest and Hungary where the
biggest Jewish community lives in central Europe and as a matter of fact
one of the biggest in Europe. There is a flourishing Jewish culture
here which is an integral part of Hungarian culture.”
Euronews: “Ok lets have another question for Mr. Kovacs in Budapest.”
“Paul McPowell, Liverpool, Merseyside. I’m just enquiring what role do you see Hungary having in the eurozone in the future?”
Euronews: “Do you want join the euro? What is your position do you
think you will be able to with the current financial problems?”
Zoltan Kovacs: “Well it is not a matter of wishes or intentions.
When we joined the European Union back in 2004 the country had decided
that it is going to join the eurozone as soon as possible and of course
there is the procedure that we should go through. As a matter of fact
this is not an immediate prospect for Hungary to join the European
currency and as we see around us there are lots of questions that should
be answered not only by those who are about to join the European
currency but also by those who already members.”
Euronews: “Don’t you feel in some way that your government is
humiliated that you are forced to accept conditions in order to receive
money from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, you
have been forced to change your politics in some way isn’t that a bit
humiliating for you?”
Zoltan Kovacs: “Again its very interesting the vocabulary you or
even those who are asking are using. No way is it a humiliation in this
matter. It should be sorted out as a pragmatic matter. Two years ago, a
year and a half ago the country was on the brink of collapse. In a year
and a half we managed to cut the state deficit to below three percent.
We already produced some basic figures that are solid that are showing
that we are proceeding in a better direction. As a matter of fact there
are a lot of volatilities in the fiscal markets not only in Europe for
the eurozone but all around the world and of course Hungary cannot
really be exempt from them. So what we are asking for at this moment is a
safety net and insurance in the background that we are able to continue
with those structural reforms those measures that are putting the
country on a sustainable track.”
Euronews: “Ok lets have one final question for Zoltan Kovacs in Budapest on Italk.
“My name is Berta from Austria. I attended a very interesting
congress on religious freedom in the European Parliament, where I work
and I heard there that the religious schools in Hungary are now
supported more than public schools. I wanted to congratulate you for
that and I wanted to ask you if it’s your government, your new
government which has caused this new legislation?”
Euronews: “Tell us about the funds. Are you giving more funds to the religious schools and if so why?”
Zoltan Kovacs: “We are not giving more funds, we are giving equally
the same amount of money supporting education as for non religious
schools. I mean these measures which we have achieved in the last year
and a half are to get rid of the discrimination that existed between
state run and religious run schools, that basically is the essence of
the measures.”
Euronews: “Just one final question Mr. Kovacs if your policies are
right why is your party losing much support in the recent opinion polls?
“
Zoltan Kovacs: “Well if you look at the by-elections which show you
or give you the result that we were able to win all the by-elections by
the same result we have won the general election back in 2010. If you
look at the general picture of course this is mid-term and we have been
through some very tough decisions and it is a kind of general phenomenon
that mid-term there is a decline either in the interests of people in
politics or in the figures that are going for the government or those
governing parties. So we are confident those measures we have introduced
in the past year and a half are going to result in a sustainable path
and again we are going to regain those votes that are have been lost in
mid-term.”
Euronews: “Zoltan Kovacs from Budapest thank you very much for
answering those questions. As you see, you ask the questions I am here
to make sure you get the answers on Italk from the European Parliament
here in Brussels. See you soon.”
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