EU report shows Hungary is a West European country
presented by HUNSOR Monitoring Media

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said the European Commission's latest progress report depicts Hungary as a West European country and the only thing lacking is a passage saying Hungary could be admitted to the EU right away.

  Many people in Hungary were annoyed by the fact that they were being assessed by others, but although this was "understandable" they must "swallow" it for the sake of EU entry, Orban added. On the media situation, which was criticized in the EU report, Orban said that the government would try again to get parliament to amend the Media Law in line with EU regulations; failing this he expected the composition of parliament after the 2002 elections to enable the adoption of such legislation. Orban also mentioned the report's criticism of corruption and competition regulations in Hungary: The following is an excerpt from an interview with Orban, broadcast by Hungarian radio on 14 November:

[Presenter] Janos Hollos has talked to [Prime Minister] Viktor Orban: ...

[Hollos] An important event took place yesterday evening: The [EU's] latest country-report was completed... In your opinion, what are the most important conclusions and what do they indicate? Does the EU recognize Hungary's development or has it found new problems? In comparison with that of 2000, is it a more positive or a more negative report?

[Orban] You will remember well that every country-report to date has had the bitter fate, sooner or later, of the parties, or most of them, trying to see themselves reflected in the written text - as if it were a mirror; they have tried to use it as a vindication for their own political purposes. It is not a thing which lifts one's spirits. I am always dispirited when I wait for the country-reports, although Hungary always receives an excellent assessment.

Properly speaking, we ought to be pleased. I ought to expect the Hungarian citizens' achievements again to be recognized abroad - however what I expect is not this but what you have said. At such times, instead of there being collective joy what happens is a process of finding fault, splitting hairs and so forth. That is probably what is happening now.

Secondly, the most important thing, after all, is what -

[Hollos] - [interrupting] we think of ourselves. I know that you do not like it if others assess the country -

[Orban - [interrupting] what we think of ourselves. Look, very many are of the opinion that we do not normally write country-report on others. It is not entirely clear to us why others have this insurmountable wish to write reports and assessments of us. And there is an understandable truth in this idea.

However, the real situation is different. Hungary would like to join the European Union. A precondition of joining the European Union is that Hungary should become a country which is suited to being a part of the European Union. Those who can - and will - ascertain this are those whom we want to join, that is the European Union member-countries. That is why, although we don't like it, although at times -

[Hollos] [interrupting] - it is a bit like a school report -

[Orban] Yes, it is a bit like a school report and it might annoy people. In my opinion it might be a bit annoying to a lot of people in Hungary. However, I say that we must swallow this. We must live with it. I might say that we must grit our teeth and tolerate it, and we must join the European Union.

Properly speaking, if we get through this [brief interruption by Hollos], and if we look at what they said about us in the final analysis, then what emerges from this pile of paper - as the report says - is an image of a country which has made great progress in the past year. In my opinion they write even greater things about this progress than what exists in reality, since we, who are contending with everyday burdens and everyday difficulties, do not view the journey we have taken as being so major, albeit everyone senses that the country has moved and we are going forward.

The EU explicitly uses the expression that Hungary has made enormous progress in the past period. It is stated that the political system is like those in Western Europe. We are fulfilling the conditions which are acknowledged as political conditions for EU accession. Therefore, as the document says, there are functioning and stable institutions which guarantee democracy and constitutionality in Hungary, and parliament functions smoothly. It says that the press is free. It says that public service television is underfinanced. The closing account is trying to improve this, to give capital to Hungarian television. This is a bit critical, but fortunately we have resolved it by means of the parliamentary vote on Monday [12 November].

It says that the government has made numerous efforts to drive out corruption. This has yielded results but an enormous number of tasks remain. This generally accords with reality.

On the economy, it says that the Hungarian economy is essentially able to compete with the Western economies. It says that unemployment has dropped below 6 per cent; it stands at 5.3 per cent. And they too sense that in the past months inflation has dropped considerably. The most recent figures came out two days ago, and they indicated inflation of between 7 and 8 per cent, 7.6 per cent in October.

I personally am proud that the Szechenyi Plan [medium-term economic strategy] is mentioned in this country-assessment, a source which encourages the development of the small and medium-sized business sector. Those abroad, in Brussels, are pleased. Foreign capital investments are at a constantly high level. What is interesting is that they mention that the two-year budget is positive. It is a good thing that there is a two-year budget in Hungary because it increases predictability and the budget's consolidation.

Overall, I could tell you that what emerges from this document is an image of a Hungary which is a Western country. Hungary is a Western country. We could safely say that it is a country in Central Europe which can be classified as West European - both economically and politically.

The only thing lacking from the end of the report is that on this basis we shall admit Hungary to the European Union tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, that sentence is not there. Rather, the document - without saying so - continues to consider the date of 2004 to be probable.

[Hollos] Are you saying that there is no true criticism whatsoever in this document which is worthwhile considering?

[Orban] Of course not. There are several such criticisms. Hungary is not a perfect country. If the country is not perfect, a realistic description cannot depict it as such.

We have enough problems. If anyone, then it is the citizens listening to the radio who know best that we contend with such things. We still have problems with corruption. That is why we have not been able to close all of the chapters with the EU partner. There are disputes over the application of competition law regulations in Hungary and the Supreme Court is overburdened - that is also mentioned by the document.

What is said in Brussels is not that Hungary is a perfect country. That would not be right. All that is said is that it has made a lot of progress. Properly speaking it is a Western country. We have precisely the same faults and problems as those known in Western Europe. Their problems are increasingly similar to our problems.

If you permit, allow me to say that this is what we wanted 10-odd years ago. We wished to become a country which did not have the problems of a recently-occupied former socialist country but where we contended with problems similar to those in the West European countries. From this angle we have gradually caught up.

[Hollos] What news is there on the Media Law? I am asking this because it is a two-thirds law [requiring a two-thirds parliamentary majority for adoption] and there are major differences between the government and opposition parties over this. The two sides interpret the conflict in entirely different ways. What was included in the country-report?

[Orban] The country-report deals with it. It too is a problem. In Hungary, the Media Law is still not what it ought to be if the country were to belong to the European Union.

[Hollos] Could this hamper our admission? The outgoing EU envoy once said that when we join this could cause problems - if we are unable to amend it by 2002, given that it is a two-thirds law.

[Orban] The government is now submitting to the House, for the third time, the Media Law, or rather its amendment. The European Union expects us to amend the law in an issue which is in our interest too. This has nothing to do with the political disputes over the media. We ought to adopt rules serving to protect children, for example. They are asking for things which we ought to have done here at home long ago, even if we did not wish to join the European Union.

What is at issue is that the political tensions outside the Media Law are spreading out over the Media Law and not allowing us to transform it into something similar to that in the EU since we do not have [the requisite] two-thirds [majority].

Look, our accession is expected in 2004, on 1 January we hope. There will be elections in Hungary in 2002. I trust that the Hungarian people will elect a parliament of a composition which will be suited to resolving this problem.

[Hollos] So you do not expect a consensus over this until the spring of 2002?

[Orban] We are making another attempt. We again are submitting the Media Law amendment as required from the angle of the European Union, and this is in line with our interests. We shall wait to see what the opposition says.



Source: Source: Hungarian Radio, Budapest

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