Orban Targets Theaters, Prompting Protest Against Censorship
Orban Targets Theaters, Prompting Protest Against Censorship
(Bloomberg) -- Hungary’s government took a major step toward increasing its influence over theaters and cultural institutions, drawing fire from actors and opposition activists who said Prime Minister Viktor Orban was pushing for communist-style censorship.
The cabinet filed a draft law to parliament that would give the minister in charge of culture a greater say in how state-funded theaters are run and sets up a central state body for cultural strategy. The government said the bill’s aim is to “strengthen national identity,” but actors and directors said they were the latest target in Orban’s push to impose his conservative values on all walks of society.
Several thousand people gathered in central Budapest on Monday to protest the planned measures, according to the Index.hu news website. Speakers at the demonstration included the capital’s recently-elected opposition mayor.
“I was an actor already in the 1960s, 70s and 80s,” when the communist regime ruled, Judit Pogany said in a video post by famous actors and directors. “I never thought that after 30 years of democracy I’d start feeling the way I did back then.”
Orban has mostly won turf wars to extend his influence over education, scientific research and parts of the legal system. He’s now fighting a European Union probe over the erosion of the rule-of-law during his nearly decade in power.
The latest battle over culture comes after Orban suffered a setback in October’s municipal election, when his party won overall but lost control of four out of the five largest cities, including Budapest.
Following the ballot, he moved to squeeze the opposition mayor’s control over the capital’s budget and submitted a draft law that seeks to broaden the role of the Constitutional Court, which is stacked with his appointees.
His lawmakers are also expected to back a proposals to restricts the rights of independent lawmakers, including his most outspoken critics. All the measures are expected to win approval, given the ruling Fidesz party’s supermajority in the legislature.
As the EU has largely failed to derail Orban’s centralization of power over the past 10 years, it’s unlikely that will change, according to Eurasia, a political-risk consultancy.
“Ultimately, Orban’s willingness to negotiate with the EU, partially backtracking on some issues while constantly moving forward with smaller steps seems to have worked for him,” Naz Masraff, director for Europe at Eurasia, said in a research note. “He will likely continue to use this ‘winning formula.’”
--With assistance from Marton Eder.
To contact the reporter on this story: Zoltan Simon in Budapest at zsimon@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net, Andrea Dudik, Michael Winfrey
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