The transaction was approved in May 2022 by the French Ministry of Finance, as Euronews, based in Lyon, is a company governed by French law
Companies related to the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán secretly contributed to the acquisition of the main European news network Euronews, according to research carried out by media from Hungary, France and Portugal.
Officially, the investment fund Alpac Capitalbased in Portugal, acquired a majority stake in Euronews in July 2022 for approximately €170 million.
The transaction was approved in May 2022 by the French Ministry of Finance, as Euronews, based in Lyon, is a company subject to French law and belongs to a strategic sector, that of the media.
But at least a third of the money they came from sources linked to Viktor Orbán, Hungarian investigative website Direkt36, French newspaper Le Monde and Portuguese weekly Expresso revealed yesterday, Thursday.
The Hungarian Szechenyi Funds, an organization which at the time of the transaction was under the supervision of a foundation chaired by the Minister of Economy Mihaly Vargas, contributed the sum of 45 million euros, according to internal documents.
A “strictly confidential” PowerPoint presentation obtained by Direkt36 suggests how political reasons played a role in the decision. The operation was mainly intended to moderate “the left-wing bias” in the media, as Euronews “exercises influence on EU policies”.
The director of Alpac Capital, Pedro Vargas David, is also the son of former MEP Mario David, former advisor and personal friend of Orbán.
The main partner in the Hungarian government’s communications business, New Land Media, has for its part given a loan of 12.5 million euros to a Hungarian subsidiary of Alpac Capital, its owner Gyula Balassi confirmed to Direkt36.
An inside source cited by the media stated that it is obvious that the order to finance the investment had been given “from above”.
After Viktor Orbán returned to power in 2010, the media landscape was thoroughly rearranged: the public media have turned into a platform for official politics, while those close to power have bought entire parts of the private media.
Euronews, Szechenyi Funds and New Land Media were not immediately available for comment.
Source :Skai
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