BUDAPEST, Hungary — After a warning from the European Union that the controversy over Hungary’s broad new media law could undermine the country’s six-month presidency of the bloc, Prime Minister Viktor Orban abandoned his fiery language against the law’s European critics on Friday, emphasizing that he would make changes if the law proved incompatible with European legislation.
Hungary’s first week in the union’s rotating presidency has been dominated by assertions that the new law threatens news media freedom by empowering a new authority — whose appointees are loyal to Mr. Orban and his Fidesz party — to fine or close news organizations it deems in violation of standards of balance and respect for human dignity.
José Manuel Barroso, a top European Union official, met with Mr. Orban here Friday and urged him to defuse the dispute before Hungary’s presidency was seriously damaged.
Aside from legal issues, “there are also the political perceptions and needs for Hungary to have the full backing of the member states and of the European institutions to make this presidency a success,” Mr. Barroso said.
Mr. Orban said that he was confident the law met European standards, but that he would comply with any ruling by the European Commission, and if problems were found he was “ready to remedy” them.
“We are ready to do everything to ensure that the row over the media law does not hamper our European presidency,” he said after the meeting with Mr. Barroso.
On Thursday he had accused France and Germany of insulting Hungary by criticizing the media law, which he insisted they did not understand.
Though now reduced in importance after the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty, the six-month presidency of the European Union gives countries responsibility for steering a range of policies from agriculture to labor laws. To achieve its goals, Hungary will still need the support of big nations, including France and Germany.
In 2009 a lack of support from Paris helped undermine the union’s Czech presidency, which then imploded following the collapse of the government in Prague.
The controversy over Hungary’s law could also prove to be a significant distraction, particularly in the European Parliament, before which Mr. Orban will appear this month. However, it remains far from clear whether the change of tone Friday will translate into substance.
The European Commission expects to take several weeks to examine whether the Hungarian law complies with European standards. But it is not certain that it will have a strong legal case against the government in Budapest.
Though European Union legislation does have a role in the media, most powers over media supervision remain in the hands of national governments.
Mr. Orban pointed out Thursday that most of the provisions in the new Hungarian law existed in at least one other European Union country.
If the European Commission takes Hungary to task, it will have to have strong legal grounds, or risk looking as if it is singling out a relative newcomer to the union.
By: Stephen Castle (ny times)
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