Hungary has funneled more than €1.1 billion in state advertising subsidies since 2015 to media outlets aligned with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, a complaint to the European Commission has claimed, raising fresh concerns over press freedom ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections, TVP News reports.

The complaint, filed by Alhambra Press—the publisher of the independent weekly Magyar Hang—and another outlet that requested anonymity, alleges that government revenue allocation “has severely distorted” the Hungarian media advertising market by “selectively favoring” pro-government titles.

The legal challenge highlights concerns over the state of the free press in Hungary under Fidesz, which has been in power since 2010.

In the World Press Freedom Index run by Reporters Without Borders, Hungary has fallen dramatically, from 40th 10 years ago to 67th in 2024, making it one of the lowest-ranked EU member states.

An economic study commissioned by the complainants and authored by former European competition official Kai-Uwe Kühn found that money allegedly poured into Hungary’s media market by the government had warped the sector.

“The economic evidence and data show beyond reasonable doubt that the Hungarian media advertising landscape has been severely distorted by the unlawful allocation of government advertising revenue,” Alhambra Press said in a statement.

“Government-aligned media outlets have effectively been subsidized to the tune of nearly EUR 1.1 billion since at least 2015, amounting to unlawful and incompatible state aid in breach of EU treaties. Hungary has a media landscape tailor-made to financially benefit government-aligned media outlets, forcing others to the margins.”

The complaint raises questions about the government’s instrumentalization of media ahead of crucial parliamentary elections next year that could see Fidesz lose power for the first time.

Polls show the party faces a serious challenge to its rule, mounted by the rising opposition star Péter Magyar, a former Fidesz member and Orbán admirer who broke away from the governing bloc to join the center-right Tisza party, immediately becoming its frontman politician.

Magyar has frequently criticized Orbán for centralizing power in the judicial system, media and economy in government’s hands, voicing a growing public dissatisfaction with Fidesz’s increasingly ‘illiberal’ rule.

The economic study also found that Hungarian media organizations have been forced by state aid to adopt a pro-government line to boost advertising revenue and remain competitive.

It further notes that “the aid incentivized the purchase of government-unaligned newspapers by government-aligned owners and led to the consolidation of the vast majority of the Hungarian media in one enterprise: KESMA.”

Funded and overseen by pro-government business figures in 2018, KESMA has since absorbed dozens of titles—ranging from national dailies to local weeklies—bringing the bulk of Hungary’s pro-Fidesz media under one umbrella and cementing the party’s influence over public discourse.

The Hungarian government has rejected claims it controls the media, asserting the country has a broad spectrum of press and media outlets, some of which are critical of Fidesz and its policies.