‘We began with crisis communication, and continued in that mode until a few weeks ago’ – this is how Zoltán Kovács characterised the work so far of the Office of the Minister of State for Government Communication.

The Minister of State reminded those present at the open day for the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice on Saturday that in spring last year the country had to deal with one of its largest and most damaging floods ever, after which came the tragedy of the red sludge disaster, and then the communication challenges presented by the Media Act and the huge raft of legislation introduced in the autumn.

Zoltán Kovács said that in May and June of last year when the new government was being formed, its communication system had to be established while at the same time Hungary was coping with one of its most extensive and damaging floods ever. The Minister of State for Government Communication referred to the following as the major challenges of recent months: the flooding, the government measures introduced in the summer, the enormous amount of legislation passed in the autumn, the red sludge tragedy and the Media Act.

The Minister of State said that the Media Act could also be seen as crisis communication in its essence. He emphasised that the Government has no involvement in the operation of the Act and the new media structure in a legal sense, which is precisely why Parliament was the initiator of the legislative process for the Act.

‘When there was a need to answer criticism of the Government and the country, it fell to us to take up the case that had previously been the responsibility of the parliamentary fraction and members of Parliament on one hand, and the Media Authority on the other’, he said, adding that the European Commission was not in essence addressing its concerns to the Cabinet, but to legislators and the content of the legislation itself.

(kormany.hu)