The rule of law “works very well” in Hungary, and Hungarian political discourse is one of the freest in the European Union, European lawmaker Balázs Hidvéghi of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party told German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
In an interview published in DW’s Conflict Zone broadcast on Friday, Hidvéghi decried allegations that the Hungarian government’s measures during the coronavirus pandemic served to expand its powers. The government has a “very strong political mandate thanks to the Hungarian population”, and does not need power grabs, Hidvéghi insisted.
The laws were put in place to clamp down on those spreading fake news, and not critics of the government, Hidvéghi said. During a pandemic, “you have to make sure that only reality and real facts are transmitted to the people,” he said.
Hungarian public discourse and politics have “one of the most vibrant debates here across the whole European Union, with a whole range of various opinions and different points of views,” Hidvéghi said.
Featured photo by Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI