How does a free society die? With trials like covid-19 lockdowns and disputed elections in hindsight, many are afraid to learn the answer to this question. But for the nation of Hungary, this is not a hypothetical question—the answer is playing out in real time.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán admitted this in a 2014 speech: “[T]he new state that we are constructing in Hungary is an illiberal state, a non-liberal state. It does not reject the fundamental principles of liberalism such as freedom, and I could list a few more, but it does not make this ideology the central element of state organization, but instead includes a different, special, national approach.”

His statement caused many to worry about the “new state” he was constructing. More than 10 years on, Orbán is still at Hungary’s helm, and we can see what he meant. In June, the Trumpet spoke to Csaba Lukács, founder and editor of the Magyar Hang newspaper, about what it is like for the opposition media in the country. The following are excerpts of our discussion, edited for flow and clarity:

How have conditions for the media changed since Orbán came to power in 2010?

Csaba Lukács

Ten or 15 years ago, if we sent a reporter to rural Hungary, it was really easy to reach interviewees, and they were happy to share their problems. Now, if we are going to the countryside and we want to interview a school principal or a medic, they would ask, “Do you have the permission of the Ministry of the Interior?” In Hungary, we don’t have anymore a Ministry of Culture or Ministry of Education or Ministry of Health. These departments are all under the Ministry of the Interior, and reporters need a permit from the minister. Even the local priests are questioned, “Do you have your permission from the bishop?” They are afraid they will be punished if they say something that does not fit the governmental propaganda. So it is almost impossible to get information.

We discussed the Orbán government’s methods to pressure the media and society.

The governmental party made a new foundation. It’s called Central European Media Foundation, and they bought out or captured more than 500 media outlets: tv stations, radio stations, web portals, print newspapers, daily countryside newspapers, all kinds of media, and they are spreading pure governmental propaganda. …

We have been living in Hungary for more than 10 years in an emergency situation. They are extending that emergency situation year by year. They started with migration. Later on, it was a covid emergency. Now it’s a war emergency because we have a war in our neighboring country of Ukraine. So we are living in a constant emergency situation, which allows the government to rule without parliamentary permission. They can issue governmental decrees. There is no debate in Parliament …. They can restrict journalists’ work as well.

The week we spoke, the government was debating a law that would have dramatically altered freedom of speech in the country.

Lukács There is one question which now is really urgent, and it could change everything. One Monday evening in May, two minutes before midnight, a member of Parliament representing the ruling Fidesz party submitted a draft transparency bill to the Hungarian Parliament, and the proposal was quickly debated by the Parliament, and it was expected to be passed tomorrow [June 10]. The vote was unexpectedly postponed until autumn. Nobody knows why, but the threat exists. In that bill, every media organization and every cyberorganization and every company could be punished if they are spreading “pro-Ukrainian propaganda.” Every media company can be punished if they are “threatening Hungarian national sovereignty.” But it’s not mentioned what that exactly means. … That office will make a list of those organizations that are against national sovereignty. So they are deciding who are enemies and who are not. And those organizations on their list will not be allowed to receive any money from abroad, which means that all our YouTube advertising money will go …. If somebody wants to make a subscription from abroad, that would be totally illegal. If we are receiving even EU money, it would be illegal …. So if that bill is passed, that could be the end of independent media in Hungary. …

The Trumpet has forecast for more than 35 years that Europe would become more dictatorial and turn into a 10-nation superpower. (Our free book The Holy Roman Empire in Prophecy elaborates.) In a July 2020 article, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote about Viktor Orbán: “It is almost certain that Hungary will be part of the coming 10-nation European superpower. … European leaders are increasingly behaving like dictators and assuming dictatorial power. The people of Europe are being conditioned to accept more tyrannical leadership.”

These statements came to life in our interview. Continue watching for Hungary and other European nations to favor authoritarianism over democracy, both within their borders and in Europe as a whole.