Telex and several foreign news outlets refused entry to Orbán's annual State of the Nation speech

Telex will not be allowed to attend Viktor Orbán's annual State of the Nation speech, which will be delivered on Saturday at Várkert Bazár in Budapest. In its response sent to Telex, the Foundation for a Civic Hungary (Polgári Magyarországért Alapítvány), which is organising the event, said that they are only able to allow a limited number of representatives from the media to attend. We understand that many other Hungarian press publications – ATV, 24.hu, Blikk, Szabad Európa – received the same reply. According to our information, representatives of several foreign media outlets will also not be allowed to attend Orbán's speech, among them: AP, AFP, Reuters, Bloomberg and Xinhua, have also been refused registration.

Last year, Telex's photographer was still allowed to be present for Viktor Orbán's annual address, but the press was completely excluded from the Prime Minister's following speeches: first in Kiskőrös on 15 March and then in Veszprém on 23 October. In the latter case, the press was initially "welcomed" after prior registration, but in the end, at the venue itself, staff of the independent press were not allowed inside the cordoned-off area.

Viktor Orbán's annual State of the Nation address, which is organised by the Foundation for a Civic Hungary has become the biggest social event of the year for the right-wing public. Last year, for example, a number of celebrities were invited to attend.

The exclusion of the press is likely not unrelated to the political scandal over the presidential pardon of Endre K., which led to the resignation of President Katalin Novák and former Justice Minister Judit Varga. For now, the first and (so far) only time Viktor Orbán spoke out in relation to the clemency case was last Thursday, when he announced that he would be submitting a constitutional amendment related to the matter.

The Prime Minister also hasn’t publicly reacted to the fact that Judit Varga's ex-husband Péter Magyar has harshly criticized Antal Rogán (Minister of the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office, and one of those closest to Orbán) and the way in which the government's communication is run, as well as the sudden enrichment of the Prime Minister's son in law, István Tiborcz. Magyar did so in multiple social media posts, as well as, in a lengthy interview with Partizán.