Parliamentary Chairman Pavol Paška has introduced new instructions for journalists within the Parliament building. New rules allow journalists to enter only specific places in Parliament and forbid them from taking pictures of the personal belongings of MPs.
At the same time, journalists can no longer access the parliamentary snack bar. If they violate the rules, they may lose their accreditation and may be banned from Parliament. The opposition Freedom and Solidarity party described the rules as a gross interference in democratic principles. In addition, representatives of the NOVA movement protested in an open letter to Paška saying that, “[the] sanctions you want to impose on journalists who are performing their work, recording some things that some MPs might not like are unacceptable as well”. Vice-chairman of Most-Hid party Zsolt Simon supported the parties disproving the new rules and compared them to the ones made within the former Communist regime.
