« Fidesz » submitted a law against funding from abroad to non -governmental organizations
The result of Prime Minister Victor Orban’s lead to deal with the critics of his government, NGOs, the media and activists is a law against their assistance from abroad. The project was brought last night to Parliament in Budapest.
A year before the 2026 parliamentary elections, probably the most difficult to stay in power, the proposal of the Fides Party is to Protect Sovereignty (SPO) Service to prepare a list, to monitor their bank accounts, and to be estimated from abroad as a threat.
- If the bill is adopted, the authorities will be able to enter at their discretion in the offices of organizations and check and copy their documents and data from electronic devices and computers, and for this purpose they may also request the assistance of the police.
- If an organization adopts foreign funds in violation of the law, it must pay the Commission for Combating Money Fines 25 times more than the funding actually received.
- If she cannot pay the fine within 15 days, she has to terminate her activity, the bill says.
The « recession of democracy » in the EU and Bulgaria is also deepened
The protection of sovereignty is another formula that the government has been using since 2023 after the failure of ideas such as the one to combat « foreign agents ». The European Commission has launched a procedure for violation of the law by which SPO was created, citing the potential to undermine democratic values and fundamental EU rights.
The draft law proposes to act when it considers that the NGO actions are threatening:
- the country’s independence as a democratic state governed by the rule of law;
- the unity of the nation, the responsibility for the Hungarians beyond borders;
- the rule of marriage, family and biological sex;
- peace, security and cooperation with other countries;
- The constitutional identity of the country and its Christian culture.
According to the proposal, the country’s sovereignty may be threatened by activities that are capable of influencing public opinion – all activities that are capable of influencing the will of the electorate or the democratic debate are referred to as such.
« Revival » did not meet support for his foreign agents bill
Therefore, every organization after adding it to the list and is obliged to request all its supporters and all who support it « to make a declaration in a private document with full evidential force » that their money does not come from abroad.
| The latter also covers all funds that can be won through transparent competitions, including those of the EU, for which organizations operating in a Union country apply. |
Executive directors, founders and members of the supervisory or control board of the listed organizations are obliged to submit property declarations and that these data are publicly available.
In his speech on March 15, Prime Minister Viktor Orban called « Winter Bubolets » organizations of civil society critical of the government, the journalists of the independent press, judges demonstrating the independence of the judiciary, and opposition politicians who, according to Fidesz’s propaganda, are funded from abroad. He warned them that I went to the « spring wind » and the gates would take them, because « their fate is shame and contempt » and « if there is a truth, but there is a separate place for them awaits them in hell. »
The speech provoked great outrage, psychologists, psychiatrists, judges and academics from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences also protested against the statement, although neither the prosecutor’s office nor the President of Hungary found anything wrong with it.
