Analysis
EU Values Foresight
Information Sovereignty
Shaping the Debate: How to Secure Our Democracies from Malign Interference
10 December 2024
At a time when inflation is skyrocketing and food security is greatly threatened, the government in Budapest is using its unofficial campaign mechanism to place all the blame on Brussels, and it’s working.
In October, the Hungarian government launched a so-called “national consultation” about the sanctions against Russia, and it was accompanied by a robust propaganda campaign depicting the sanctions as bombs. The campaign runs until 15 December, and the first results on its impact are already available.
While one can easily disregard the consultation sheet in the mailbox, the effects of the robust ad campaign accompanying it are much more difficult to ignore.
“National consultation” is a tool introduced by the Fidesz-KDNP government in 2015. The current one is the 8th in a row, hence, the government is permanently campaigning independently from elections, let alone electoral campaign laws.