Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has announced that he will
scrap plans for a controversial internet tax – for now. “The internet
tax cannot be introduced in its current form,” Orbán said in a radio
interview on Friday morning.
The tax, which was due to be voted in on 17 November, had drawn tens of thousands of protesters to the streets of Budapest on Sunday and Tuesday. Critics saw the tax as an attempt to crack down on opposition voices and curtail civil liberties.
“If the people do not just dislike something, but think it is irrational, then it should not be done”, the leader of the rightwing Fidesz party said in the interview.
Neelie Kroes, the European commission’s outgoing vice president and commissioner for digital agenda, welcomed the U-turn, tweeting: “I am very pleased for Hungarians today. Their voices have been heard. And I’m proud the European commission could and did play [a] positive role in defending European values and a digital Europe.”
The organisers of the One Million for the Freedom of the Press movement told the Guardian that they would hold a party to celebrate their achievements so far, but that they feared that Orbán had not registered their true concerns.
“For us, the internet is a symbol that we belong to Europe, not to Russia. For many in Hungary the internet has become a remedy from the government, but now Orbán is trying to pull down a digital iron curtain like they have in Iran or China”, said Gulyás Balázs .
Hungary’s prime minister has been repeatedly accused of turning his back on democratic principles. Since coming to power in 2010.
Read more: Hungary’s prime minister scraps draft law taxing internet use | World news | The Guardian
The tax, which was due to be voted in on 17 November, had drawn tens of thousands of protesters to the streets of Budapest on Sunday and Tuesday. Critics saw the tax as an attempt to crack down on opposition voices and curtail civil liberties.
“If the people do not just dislike something, but think it is irrational, then it should not be done”, the leader of the rightwing Fidesz party said in the interview.
Neelie Kroes, the European commission’s outgoing vice president and commissioner for digital agenda, welcomed the U-turn, tweeting: “I am very pleased for Hungarians today. Their voices have been heard. And I’m proud the European commission could and did play [a] positive role in defending European values and a digital Europe.”
The organisers of the One Million for the Freedom of the Press movement told the Guardian that they would hold a party to celebrate their achievements so far, but that they feared that Orbán had not registered their true concerns.
“For us, the internet is a symbol that we belong to Europe, not to Russia. For many in Hungary the internet has become a remedy from the government, but now Orbán is trying to pull down a digital iron curtain like they have in Iran or China”, said Gulyás Balázs .
Hungary’s prime minister has been repeatedly accused of turning his back on democratic principles. Since coming to power in 2010.
Read more: Hungary’s prime minister scraps draft law taxing internet use | World news | The Guardian
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