Government propaganda exploiting an EU aid package

7.2.2018

Question for written answer E-000755-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
István Ujhelyi (S&D)

The Operational Programme providing Support for People in Need, which was launched in 2016, is financed by a European support fund, the FEAD, and its aim is to assist the most deprived, to reduce poverty. By the end of January, 121 000 packages had been distributed in Hungary, valued at around HUF 977 million.

However, the Orbán government, which is waging a ‘liberation struggle’ against the European Union and ‘Brussels’, is exploiting the package for its own propaganda purposes. In addition to the mandatory EU label, the packages have large Fidesz stickers attached to them, bearing the text: ‘This package is a gift to you and your family from the Hungarian Government.’

Under standard practice, while the authorities of the Member States take specific decisions on assistance based on national programmes, assistance in kind is distributed to the recipients by partner authorities (often civil society organisations). That is not the case in Hungary, where the ruling party itself distributes some of the packages.

Is it customary for Member States’ governments and governing parties to exploit donations from the EU for their own propaganda purposes?

Has the Hungarian Government informed the Commission what political advertising it wishes to attach to EU aid packages?