In a letter written in response to an opinion piece published on the website of the media company Bloomberg, Minister of State for International Communication and Relations Zoltán Kovács finds objectionable the double standards applied to the Hungarian government.

Bloomberg columnist Andreas Kluth called Hungary’s democratically elected Prime Minister Viktor Orbán a ‘tin-pot dictator’ in an opinion article published on Saturday under the title ‘Coronavirus Has Exposed the EU’s Creeping Irrelevance’. In his view, Mr Orbán “largely neutered Hungary’s opposition, courts and press” and used the coronavirus epidemic to introduce rule by decree, Mr Kovács recalled.

However, Mr Kluth failed to mention that many other European Union states have introduced a similar state of emergency, with some assuming powers that far exceed Mr Orbán’s temporary rights, the Minister of State continued, referring to examples in Germany, Switzerland and Spain.

Despite this, we see no journalists expressing similar concern about the rule of law in Germany, Switzerland or Spain, and nobody dares call any of their leaders a tin-pot dictator, he pointed out.

“Kluth also ignores the inconvenient fact that these extraordinary measures are popular with the Hungarian people, with nearly 60% saying they should be extended until the end of the pandemic,” the Minister of State wrote in his letter.

Mr Kovács also observed that even the World Health Organization’s representative in Hungary, Dr. Ledia Lazeri had recognised the effectiveness of the measures implemented by the Hungarian government.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)