Guy Verhofstadt: "First request to the new EU Presidency: uphold freedom of press"

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is dismayed by the promulgation of a controversial law on media services adopted on the eve of the first Hungarian EU presidency, and invites you to meet several eminent Hungarian writers and human rights advocates who will testify to the liberticidal content of this new legislation at the following event:

Public Hearing on the Freedom of the Press in Hungary
Tuesday January 11th at 11:30am
in the European Parliament  JAN 4Q1

"This law would muzzle critics, silence public debate, and would attack the media market economy and their political independence" warns Guy Verhofstadt. In preamble to this seminar, strengthened by the presence of Commissioner Neelie Kroes and renowned Hungarian writers and novelists, the ALDE president would like to address with the European press, possible means to surmount this brutal attack against freedom of the press. "By its behavior, Hungary has undermined one of the EU´s core values and may have brought discredit on its EU Presidency" Verhofstadt further warns.

Participants:
Guy Verhofstadt MEP, Leader of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament.
Nellie Kroes: Vice-President of the European Commission, who commissioned information on this Hungarian law that transposes the directive on audio-visual services.
Renate Weber, ALDE spokesperson for the Parliamentary commission on Civil Liberties, will moderate this public hearing.
György Konrád, Hungarian writer, dissident under the communist regime, known advocate of individual freedom.
Miklós Haraszti, Hungarian writer, journalist, human rights advocate and university professor. He served, from 2004 to 2010, two terms as the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.
Professor László Majtényi, former Parliamentary Commissioner in the Republic of Hungary.

For more information, please contact:
Corlett Neil - Tel: +32 2 284 20 77 Mob: +32 478 78 22 84
Laude Yannick - Tel: +32 2 284 31 69 Mob: +32 495 22 78 37
Web: http://www.alde.eu