Dec 22, 2010, 16:56 GMT
Brussels/Budapest - Hungary's conservative government came under fire Wednesday from European Union partners and an international watchdog over its plans to regulate the media, casting a shadow over its imminent takeover of the EU's rotating presidency.
On Tuesday, the Hungarian parliament approved a law that gives a media control body filled with government loyalists the power to impose steep fines on outlets that do not respect its guidelines.
The legislation is set to come into force on January 1, the same day Hungary's six-month stint at the EU helm is expected to start.
In Berlin, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was advising Hungary to verify that the law respects fundamental EU freedoms.
'As a future president of the European Union, Hungary naturally has a special responsibility for the image of the European Union as a whole,' Christoph Steegmans said.
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn was more outspoken, urging the EU's executive arm, the European Commission, to 'take a stand' on the issue.
'For the EU, this is a moment of truth. This has to do with a fundamental interest of the EU, namely the defence of human rights,' he told the German Press Agency dpa.
'Will the commission not react when an EU country is challenging press freedom?' Asselborn asked. 'If Europe is still to be somehow understood, then it has to be clear that when a member country violates human rights, somebody says 'this is not right.''
But in Brussels, a commission spokesman refrained from all criticism.
'The commission is still evaluating the situation and if needs be it will take action, but we haven't reached that stage yet,' Alejandro Ulzurrun said.
Despite repeated questioning, the official refused to say how long the commission's assessment would last and which EU laws the Hungarian law could potentially be found to contradict.
In Vienna, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) - which champions human rights and democracy, besides dealing with security issues - was more specific about the dangers posed by the contested legislation.
'Such concentration of power in regulatory authorities is unprecedented in European democracies, and it harms media freedom,' OSCE media freedom representative Dunja Mjatovic said in a statement.
Mijatovic also criticised the fact that top officials installed to monitor the media all belong to the ruling Fidesz party.
She additionally said that regulating print and online media based on the same rules as television runs against standards of the OSCE.
'I am concerned that Hungary's parliament has adopted media legislation that, if misused, can silence critical media and public debate in the country,' Mijatovic said.
She pointed to a lack of defined guidelines in the law and its high fines for violations, including supposedly unbalanced reporting.
Hungary's foreign minister, Janos Martonyi, faced questions about the media law on Monday, when he flew to Brussels to present his country's EU presidency plans.
He insisted that the legislation respected all EU guidelines on media freedom, argued that it was in line with what is in place in several other European countries, and advised reporters not to give credit to 'rumours' alleging otherwise.
But Hungary's Socialist opposition party on Wednesday called on President Pal Schmitt not to sign the media law and instead have the country's constitutional court review it.
Schmitt, a former EU lawmaker for Fidesz, has so far been a loyal partner of the government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Read more about EU
Your Talkback on this Story