Péter Magyar Dismisses the President of Hungary’s National Media and Infocommunications Authority

On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced on Facebook that, acting on his proposal, Dr. András Koltay has been dismissed from his position as President of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH).

At the end of May, Zoltán Tarr announced that a government commissioner would be appointed to oversee both the Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund (MTVA) the organization responsible for managing the assets and employees of Hungary’s public media and the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH), which is responsible for supervising the public media.

At the time, the authority led by András Koltay responded to our inquiry by stating:

“Based on our understanding of the Public Finances Act, we currently do not see how a government commissioner or, alternatively, a fiscal supervisor could be lawfully appointed to the institutions in question. The operations of both the NMHH and the MTVA are transparent, and we remain willing to cooperate in any future procedures or investigations that comply with the applicable laws.”

In 2024, it emerged that the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) an educational institution closely associated with Balázs Orbán, who was then the Prime Minister’s Political Director paid exceptionally high salaries to certain lecturers by Hungarian higher education standards, including András Koltay, who was serving as President of both the NMHH and the Media Council.

Koltay headed the MCC’s Freedom of Speech Workshop, whose annual personnel expenses including taxes and social contributions amounted to 12 million forints, despite the fact that András Koltay was its sole employee.