Semjen: Hungary building ‘virtual national space’

Speaking in a roundtable, Semjen said the effort was “the virtual part of the unification of the nation” aimed at resolving issues around sport, cultural, and political broadcasts. When the system is complete, Hungarian nationals will have access to all programs “through a simple registration, with an IP address, in a VPN environment, and with digital citizenship,” he said.

According to Semjen, the goal is to provide access to public interest and cultural programmes of the Hungarian public media in neighbouring countries, starting on January 1 next year.

To ensure survival of ethnic Hungarian communities “we primarily need a strong Hungary” as well as the mother country’s assistance in the forms of granting preferential Hungarian citizenship, economic programmes, and support for ethnic Hungarian parties and organisations.

Hungary currently spends 100 billion forints (EUR 262m) on assistance to ethnic Hungarians, Semjen said. Since 2010, Hungary has spent some 500 billion forints on 50,000 ethnic projects, Semjen said.