  Press freedom

The Hungarian ruling party Fidesz has postponed the adoption of its transparency law, which had been planned for this week, until after the summer break. The proposed law foresees harsh sanctions against all civil organisations and media outlets that have ever received foreign funding. As a reason for the postponement Fidesz parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis said that there was a consensus on the purpose of the law, but not on the methods. What's going on?

The ruling party Fidesz has presented a draft law which would further restrict the activities of many NGOs and media outlets. The legislation empowers the government to blacklist NGOs and companies financed from abroad. Such organisations would be required to seek permission from the tax authorities to receive foreign funding, and NGOs would also face bureaucratic hurdles that make it almost impossible for them to collect private domestic donations.