Hungary: IPI welcomes legal action against Hungary over EU Media Freedom Act violations
12 December 2025
The International Press Institute (IPI) today welcomes the launching of legal action by the European Commission against Hungary over its systematic violation of new rules set out in the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA).
On 11 December, the EU Commission announced it had opened an infringement procedure against Hungary for failing to comply with several provisions under EMFA, including non-interference in journalistic and media work, economic pressure, and inadequate protection of sources and digital communications.
It also found that Hungary also fails to comply with requirements relating to the public service media, the transparency of media ownership, the assessment of media market concentrations, the allocation of state advertising, and independent media regulation.
These findings echo the recent conclusions of a new report by IPI and the Media and Journalism Research Center, which examined the non-implementation of EMFA in Hungary in 2025 through the lens of media capture.
Overall, the report assessed that no action has been taken by Hungarian authorities to align domestic law with the EMFA and that Hungary remains the EU Member State with the most sophisticated model of media capture ever developed within the bloc.
Rather than take any steps to implement the EMFA, the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has framed it as a tool of foreign interference and challenged the regulation before the European Court of Justice seeking to have elements annulled.
IPI welcomes the EU Commission’s opening of legal action over the non-implementation of EMFA, which represents an important use of its new regulatory toolbox for safeguarding media freedom, independence and pluralism within the EU’s internal market.
The infringement proceedings will represent a key litmus test for the strength of the EMFA moving forward and will be closely watched by other EU member states. However, due to the lengthy nature of the legal process, questions remain over its impact. The EU should therefore use all tools at its disposal to protect free media and democratic values in Hungary.
Earlier this month, IPI and media freedom partners in the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) wrote to the EMFA-established European Board for Media Services to raise alarm about the recent acquisition of Hungary’s most-read tabloid newspaper by a pro-government media group and call on the newly established body to launch an assessment of the merger and its potentially negative impact on media pluralism in Hungary.
IPI will closely follow both procedures and continue to support the fight for a free, independent and pluralistic media ecosystem in Hungary.
In November, IPI joined a fact-finding visit of international media freedom organisations to Budapest, which concluded that press freedom and independent journalism in Hungary remain in a period of deep crisis ahead of the 2026 election, amidst an enduring climate of political harassment and demonization.
At IPI’s recent 2025 World Congress, Hungary’s independent media were named the recipient of the 2025 IPI-IMS Free Media Pioneer Award in recognition of their innovation, adaptation, and endurance under sustained political and economic pressure
This statement was coordinated by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.
