>sovereign 1 of 2 noun (…) >1 a : one possessing or held to possess supreme political power…
>**Hungary’s new Sovereignty Protection Office aims to give Viktor Orbán’s complete control over the country’s media and NGOs, critics have warned.**
>Established by the Hungarian parliament last year, the office is tasked with monitoring political circles that receive unauthorized financial aid from abroad.
>However, critics of prime minister Orbán’s government argue that the office is used to silence the opposition and stifle free debate in a country where Fidesz, Orbán’s party, has been in power for over a decade.
>The office is headed by Hungarian political scientist Tamás Lánczi, a close ally of Fidesz.
>“The whole thing is so absurd that I would put it between Orwell and Kafka somewhere,” József Péter Martin, the executive director of Transparency International Hungary, an NGO under scrutiny by the office, told the UK’s Guardian newspaper.
>“In a European Union country, that absolutely should not happen,” he added.
>So far, the Sovereignty Protection Office has focused on the activities of two institutions: Transparency International Hungary and Átlátszó, which is an independent portal known for revealing government corruption scandals.
>“[The office] does not investigate the fact that the public media is full of Russian propaganda,” said Márton Kárpáti, the president of the board of Telex, one of the most important independent news portals in Hungary, which is also in the institution’s crosshairs.
>“It does not investigate how much money social media influencers close to the government get, what war messages they convey, what kind of pro-Russian narrative they push,” he added.
>“The regime is hardening, so Orbán is not going in the direction of consolidation, but is visibly Putinising, and from year to year in a way that is more apparent,” said Ágnes Urbán, an expert on Hungarian press.
>The European Commission announced in February that it was taking legal action against Hungary over the law that established the Sovereignty Protection Office. Additionally, the U.S. State Department has also criticized the new office.
>Despite the criticism, the authorities in Budapest believe that the office’s activities are necessary.
>Balázs Orbán, the prime minister’s political director, said that in recent years Hungary had faced “increased threats,” and that the office has played a key role in counteracting them.
2 comments
You see, when they say “sovereign” they don’t mean it as adjective.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sovereign
>sovereign 2 of 2 adjective (…)
>2 (…)
>c : enjoying autonomy : independent
They mean it as noun.
>sovereign 1 of 2 noun (…)
>1 a : one possessing or held to possess supreme political power…
>**Hungary’s new Sovereignty Protection Office aims to give Viktor Orbán’s complete control over the country’s media and NGOs, critics have warned.**
>Established by the Hungarian parliament last year, the office is tasked with monitoring political circles that receive unauthorized financial aid from abroad.
>However, critics of prime minister Orbán’s government argue that the office is used to silence the opposition and stifle free debate in a country where Fidesz, Orbán’s party, has been in power for over a decade.
>The office is headed by Hungarian political scientist Tamás Lánczi, a close ally of Fidesz.
>“The whole thing is so absurd that I would put it between Orwell and Kafka somewhere,” József Péter Martin, the executive director of Transparency International Hungary, an NGO under scrutiny by the office, told the UK’s Guardian newspaper.
>“In a European Union country, that absolutely should not happen,” he added.
>So far, the Sovereignty Protection Office has focused on the activities of two institutions: Transparency International Hungary and Átlátszó, which is an independent portal known for revealing government corruption scandals.
>“[The office] does not investigate the fact that the public media is full of Russian propaganda,” said Márton Kárpáti, the president of the board of Telex, one of the most important independent news portals in Hungary, which is also in the institution’s crosshairs.
>“It does not investigate how much money social media influencers close to the government get, what war messages they convey, what kind of pro-Russian narrative they push,” he added.
>“The regime is hardening, so Orbán is not going in the direction of consolidation, but is visibly Putinising, and from year to year in a way that is more apparent,” said Ágnes Urbán, an expert on Hungarian press.
>The European Commission announced in February that it was taking legal action against Hungary over the law that established the Sovereignty Protection Office. Additionally, the U.S. State Department has also criticized the new office.
>Despite the criticism, the authorities in Budapest believe that the office’s activities are necessary.
>Balázs Orbán, the prime minister’s political director, said that in recent years Hungary had faced “increased threats,” and that the office has played a key role in counteracting them.
>Source: PAP, The Guardian