Hungary is undergoing political lynching for following its own path. However, the government is no longer interested in political opinions, and is seeking to find the most effective way of managing the novel coronavirus epidemic, Zoltán Kovács stressed in an interview given to the BBC on Wednesday.

On the programme ‘Hard Talk’ of the British public service television, the Minister of State for International Communication and Relations said the much-criticised so-called ‘authorisation law’ was necessary because “we are facing an unknown enemy” and the law allows the government to take swift and firm action.

In answer to the reporter’s question, he pointed out that Parliament can revoke this special authorisation at any time when it believes the crisis has come to an end.

He additionally underlined that there were four other European countries where the effect of the authorisation was not tied to a specific date in the future.

Mr Kovács said in the past ten years the Hungarian government has been continuously in the crossfire of criticism – among others – from Western European press outlets and from left-wing and liberal groups in the European Parliament.

He highlighted, however, that by contrast, Vera Jourova, the competent member of the European Commission had said only the day before that the disputed Hungarian legislation was not contrary to EU law.

The Minister of State said protecting the health, security and interests of the Hungarian population is the top priority for the government.

He added that during the epidemic Hungary has so far managed to avoid the problems which the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain have failed to avoid due to the fact that the governments of these countries were unable to take firm measures at the right time.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)