The “hysteria” over the Hungarian government’s media law in the European arena is fuelled by “certain Socialist-Liberal circles in Hungary”, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen told MTI on Thursday.
Semjen said that the attacks on the media legislation have caused “obvious harm” to Hungary and added that critics usually make generic remarks about the law rather than identifying concrete provisions, while the stipulations they did refer to could all be found in the laws of other EU states.
The deputy PM voiced satisfaction that Hungary’s EU Presidency programme – outlined by Prime Minister Viktor Orban at a plenary session of the European Parliament on Wednesday – was unanimously supported by all EP groups.
“It is important to keep the hysteria over the media law and the Hungarian Presidency separate,” he added.
Magyar Nemzet reports today (22 Jan.) that information from Zoltán Kovács, government communications minister, confirms that Neelie Kroes’s letter of enquiry has arrived. He advises that it contains no freedom of speech/the press concerns, and enquires only about ‘technical’ matters, essentially to do with audio-visual-services-regarding provisions and their harmony with EU law, and with the provision regarding the jurisdiction of the Hungarian media law. Kovács notes also that there is not a whiff of ultimatum in Kroes’s letter.
Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen is/was right! And to think that the postcommies were declaring Hungary not fit to hold the rotating presidency because of this ‘democracy undermining’ law. Fools.
Funny, though. I recall that Kroes was much more belligerent in her remarks to the international media. Did she reconsider, or was she slapped done?
Kovács notes also that there is not a whiff of ultimatum in Kroes’s letter
Elle at January 22, 2011 12:46 PM
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Of course not, it is immanent in the process, so it is not needed to be spelled out
And it is never spelled out, then it is not the normal tone to ‘threaten’ any member states, especially as you ask for more and clarifying information
Or do you normally threaten people, like ‘if you do not answer this question inside 1 minute I will…’?
If we look at what the European Commision states officially:
“The letter was sent to Budapest by European digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes who after detailed examination, said it seemed unsatisfactory on a number of points, her spokesman Jonathan Todd told AFP”
.
“Under European Union rules, Hungary must reply to the note, which is not a letter of warning — the first step in the launch of proceedings against a member state for being in breach of EU legislation.
Kroes set out Hungary’s failings as “calling on all media for balanced reporting whereas this type of rule generally only applies to television,” the spokesman said.
She also said it seemed in breach of EU “country of origin” rules, Todd added. “According to European single market rules a media can be distributed everywhere without being controlled in the country of destination.”
Kroes also complained about “obligatory registration” being applied to a wide gammut of media, from print to online forums and blogs”
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http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/hungary-politics.88w
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So basically the 3 points being singled out before and which Deputy PM Navracsics during the extra-ordinary joint LIBE and CULT committees information meeting on the Hungarian Media Law did not seem to answer satisfactory
If he had done, no reason for this letter
Elle is busy posting here at exactly the same time that Ricsi gets busy posting anti-semitic jokes over at his favorite Maltese fascist site http://www.vivamalta.org/forum/showthread.php?p=170910#post170910 It correlates quite accurately – Ricsi posts on Maltese Fascist site, “Elle” appears here. Within an hour of each other. What a coincidence!
The dude gets off on using sock puppets to make it seem that there are more jobbos and nazis agreeing with each other on the forum than can actually be found.
There is no doubt that Ricsi is the same person posting under the name “Elle” – but because his Jobbik handlers need to rein him in at times he creates sock puppets using the cartoon voices of his British imagination to spread his bile and pap. I am truly grateful that his shrieking “Sophie” persona has been put to rest, but whenever you see an “Elle” post, rest assured that Ricsi Menedetter, the Foreign Pig Farmer on Hungarian soil, is trolling the forums again.
Another postcommie desperado.
Perhaps an intelligent comment will appear this evening.
Keep hoping, Viking. But I think you will find that the EU has no plans to peruse any ‘freedom’ issue wth regard to the Hungarian media law.
I think you will find that the EU has no plans to peruse any ‘freedom’ issue wth regard to the Hungarian media law.
Elle at January 22, 2011 1:48 PM
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Of course,
* “calling on all media for balanced reporting whereas this type of rule generally only applies to television”
.
* “According to European single market rules a media can be distributed everywhere without being controlled in the country of destination”
.
* “obligatory registration” being applied to a wide gammut of media, from print to online forums and blogs”
-
are all of course not a question of ‘freedom’
It is just about “‘technical’ matters”
If Orban would claim the Sun is green, you would find a ‘principle’ that claims that
What the dickens are they up to now? The M&C website makes this rather surprising claim:
‘The letter to the Hungarian government was dated Friday and a copy seen by the German Press Agency dpa. “Should you fail to satisfy the above requests or provide … information that is not satisfactory, the commission reserves the possibility to send a letter of formal notice to the Hungarian authorities,” Kroes wrote.’
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1613743.php/EU-gives-Hungary-two-weeks-to-reply-on-media-law
Eh? Does the EU show the German Press Agency copies of requests for information that it sends to member states? And the pertinent letter: surely it was sent to the Hungarian authorities as formal notice. As what else could it have been sent? Also, what’s with the Pigeon English … is M&C trying to fake authenticity?
The mainstream press has not commented. Perhaps this bodes well.
Elle@ Don’t worry,they getting dumber and more desperate by the minute. Keep up your good work
Watcher@ Glad you liked the joke,sums up your ‘lot’ eh?
LOL
A brief communiqué announced on Tuesday, just one day before Mr. Orbán’s speech in the European Parliament, that the Socialist Internationale expelled the fallen Tunesian dictator’s party from their ranks.
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/7961949-party-of-ousted-tunisian-president-expelled-from-socialist-international
Cohn-Bendit, the notorious left-winger MEP, missed Mr. Orbán’s condemnation of the oppression of the Tunesian people in his unique manners.
Socialist EP fraction leader Mr. Schulz and Hungarian Socialist Ex-PM Ferenc Gyurcsány, currently without a leader post in Hungarian politics, are both vice-presidents in the Socialist Internationale.
http://www.socialistinternational.org/viewArticle.cfm?ArticleID=11
Cohn-Bendit, the notorious left-winger MEP, missed Mr. Orbán’s condemnation of the oppression of the Tunesian people in his unique manners
Leto at January 22, 2011 8:18 PM
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So you agree with Cohn-Bendit then, that Orban as the rotating President for the Council of Europe could have mentioned the Jasmine-revolution in his introductory speech to the European Parliament?
.
Maybe Orban should have mentioned, like the Swedish Foreign Minister has done, that it is now important that the EU act and swiftly support a democratic development in Tunisia?
I called attention to the fact that Mr. Schulz mingled with the fallen Tunesian dictator. Mr. Cohn-Bendit’s political (and sexual) preferences are well-known.
Hi, Ricsi. Nice of you to pop up. And thanks.
A brief communiqué announced on Tuesday, just one day before Mr. Orbán’s speech in the European Parliament, that the Socialist Internationale expelled the fallen Tunesian dictator’s party from their ranks
Leto at January 22, 2011 8:18 PM
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Given that BBC is reporting that the 3 demonstrators killed in Tirana the other day seems to have been shot from the Government Office and that today an Albanian Prosecutor issued arrest warrants for 6 members of the National Guard with the shooting, is it then time to terminate the Democratic Party of Albania’s status as observer member of the European People’s Party (EPP) and its status as full member of the International Democrat Union and the Centrist Democrat International?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12260659
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“Mr Berisha has accused the opposition Socialist party of fomenting the violence and attempting a coup”
“The demonstrators say the government stole elections held in 2009, which Mr Berisha’s Democratic Party won by a small margin.
They want a new vote, though none is scheduled until 2013″
.
A bit similar to Hungary 2006, the main difference is that no one died in Hungary
And that is a big difference
The other difference is that the political colours are switched, but that does not seem to make any difference in the Police violence?
“the main difference is that no one died in Hungary”
Which was only sheer luck, nothing else.
“the main difference is that no one died in Hungary”
Which was only sheer luck, nothing else.
Leto at January 23, 2011 7:03 PM
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If we check how the Police acted during the storming of the MTV house, where they several times were caught up outnumbered and pelted with big stones and fire-bombs, there was a remarkable restraints from many of the Police Officers
Eventually the MTV house was also abandon, not to create any serious casualties
.
This behaviour has been criticised by mainly people against Gyurcsány as a sign of conspiracy to create a bigger problem, by not defending the MTV house to the last Officer standing
.
I saw live pictures of Officers with drawn pistols and heard eyewitness reports that Officers had shot in the air, but I never really saw any confirmation on this. Exactly this type of situation is when it very easily can go out of hand and get really nasty
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For October 23, the Police had weeks to organise itself for the awaited riots and they prepared as much as possible
One can discuss the actual tactic, with big slow-moving detachments based around water-cannon cars
During these riots Police also used rubber-bullets, which undoubtedly is much better than the real thing, but it is not a precision weapon
-
You have earlier stated that you were at the Fidesz meeting, but I missed your response why you stayed on there after the official meeting was finished, committing a crime?
Are you immune against committing a crime, then you are Fidesz?
I’m bored with this subject so let me just quickly point out that MTV was “defended” by about a dozen office worker policemen and policewomen from County Baranya. They had no protective gears at all. The water cannon, whose staff was saved by only some unknown benevolent rioters from being roasted, was sent in without any riot police footmen support. There were several riot police companies, waiting in nearby streets, fully equipped and doing nothing. These are facts.
PS: I was nearby “Filmmúzeum” in a quite dense crowd. The police started shooting tear gas grenades at us a few minutes after the demonstration was over. According to reports later, it was maybe two minutes. To tell the truth I wasn’t looking at my watch.
http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zavarg%C3%A1sok_az_1956-os_forradalom_50._%C3%A9vfordul%C3%B3j%C3%A1n#Fidesz-nagygy.C5.B1l.C3.A9s_az_Astori.C3.A1n.C3.A1l
MTV was “defended” by about a dozen office worker policemen and policewomen from County Baranya. They had no protective gears at all
Leto at January 27, 2011 5:28 PM
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As usual ‘leto’ cannot tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Just check out this video:
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http://index.hu/politika/belfold/2006/elkurtuk/videok/?vid=rombol
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It shows one or several of those Police Companies being deployed, together with the water-cannon car
The problem is just that the accompanying Police force of Riot Police is basically chased from the scene and takes cover in the entrance of the MTV house
.
You will find that dozen office workers carrying the light blue jumpsuits. They just disappear in the sea of dark blue riot police
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No Riot Gear?
Well, the helmets, the stick, the shield and a few canisters with light tear-gas, that is what Hungarian Police had before October 2006
This was September 18, 2006
.
What happened this night was a total breakdown of internal communications at the scene between the different parts of the police forces, and HQ
And this was the total reserve, with the possible exception that a minor force was held back in an anticipated (greater) emergency
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To see the other related videos, just change the last part into:
?vid=rombol
?vid=ostrom
?vid=tuzoltok
I meant those policemen and policewomen who tried to protect the MTV building from the inside, postcommie…
http://index.hu/belfold/tvszkhz5543/
As for the water-cannon, I checked Wikipedia and it seems you are right. The rioters drove away the accompanying policemen at both attempts. I couldn’t see that in the videos I saw.
I meant those policemen and policewomen who tried to protect the MTV building from the inside, postcommie…
Leto at January 27, 2011 8:03 PM
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Yes and that is why we see them on the outside also, when they (light blue jumpsuits) gets re-enforcement from the BP Riot Squads (dark blue jumpsuits)
These office cops were left in the end to just stay inside, when the Riot Squads withdrew, after being unable to make any real difference
The simple truth is that it was not enough Riot Officers available in BP at that evening, for that big riot
Too many officers were also hurt, so give up the building, call in re-enforcements from the rest of the country, let the hours pass, so the rioters get tired and come back next day
In the end that was the correct tactic for that night, then no deaths occurred, even if that was this time when it was the closest to happen, being Police Officers being outnumbered and cornered so many times
Actually it was a closer thing to death casulties tahn this when riot police used unauthorized hunting shotguns to fire rubber bullets at a close range and at head level. They shot somebody in the eye.
http://www.pestylaszlo.com/megsebzett_eng.php
Elle wrote here that “Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt
Semjen is/was right” to claim that Neelie Kroes’s
letter “contains no freedom of speech/the press
concerns, and enquires only about ‘technical’
matters” – but as a matter of fact, Semjen was
flat out lying. It’s just not true, as anyone who
reads the letter can tell.
The very first point which Kroes raised in her
letter concerns the media law’s obligation to the
media to provide “balanced” news coverage,
including the provision on the right to reply. The
European Commission, Kroes wrote, has “doubts”
about the obligation’s “compliance with [..] the
fundamental right of freedom of expression and
information enshrined in Article 11 of the EU
Charter of Fundamental Rights.”
She proceeds to explain that the Commission is
particularly concerned about how wide a scope of
media is covered by the balanced coverage
obligation, and by how its terms are “drafted in
quite general terms, leaving a rather large room
for interpretation.” She also writes that the
obligation could be in breach of the EU’s “rules
on the freedom of establishment and free provision
of services,” adding later that “it could deter
the establishment in Hungary of media service
providers from other Member Countries and the
provision of media services in Hungary.”
Then, Kroes goes into the matter of the law’s
requirement for all media, including the press and
online media, to register with the state. It’s
again the sheer scope of this obligation which, in
the eyes
(cont.:) of the Commission, “would create an
unjustified restriction of the aforementioned
fundamental right of freedom of expression and
information,” and may “constitute disproportionate
restrictions of the freedom of establishment and
free provision of services.”
_
When Semjen claimed that Neelie Kroes’s letter
“contains no freedom of speech/the press concerns,”
he lied, and Elle repeated his lie here.