Press release by Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács, concerning an article published in today’s issue of the British newspaper The Guardian.

In an article published in today’s edition of The Guardian, the British newspaper claims that Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán intends to bring back the death penalty and to build work camps for immigrants ("Hungary PM: bring back death penalty and build work camps for immigrants"). The newspaper further reports that the Prime Minister is a persistent critic of the EU, who holds up Russia’s president Vladimir Putin as a model leader. These claims are not only entirely unfounded and based on a series of untruths, but consciously and deliberately misconstrue the Prime Minister’s words. It is not politicians who wish to keep these issues on the agenda: it is the voters, the Hungarian people who wish this, and this is what the Prime Minister has responded to. If people talk about these issues, then politicians also need to talk about them. This does not mean that we do not want to honour the rules that currently apply to us; we continue to observe the commitments we have made under the relevant international conventions and agreements.

This is not the first time in the history of this newspaper that it has levelled false accusations of extremism and discrimination against the Hungarian government: it has already done so in the context of the events that took place near the village of Gyöngyöspata and also in relation to the public works scheme.

We shall take all necessary steps in relation to The Guardian and these unfounded claims.

(Press release of Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács)