Hungary: Orbán ups the pressure on NGOs
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.
Government opponents stigmatised
The proposed legislation gives the state unlimited powers, complains hvg:
“Under the draft law, anyone and everyone can be branded as a foreign agent. A tiny donation from abroad, Google or YouTube advertising revenues, or foreign funding that was won in a transparent competition and must be spent on a specific purpose would be enough to trigger such a classification. ... This gives those in power the exclusive right to decide who is allowed to speak out and who is not.”
Financial stranglehold
The draft law is aimed at completely paralysing organisations that the state doesn't like, says Új Szó:
“Should the latest version of the law come into effect, organisations that come under the arbitrary scrutiny of the Sovereign Protection Office - which can hardly be described as an impartial actor - might as well just put their financial plans in the shredder. ... The 25-fold penalty for accepting foreign funds and the immediate and complete cancellation of other funding makes any significant activity impossible, and even if an organisation takes the matter to court they'll have a hard time disproving the allegations.”
Will Hungarians and Brussels simply look on?
If these regulations become law, Hungary will complete its transformation into an autocratic state along Russian lines, Válasz Online observes:
“Once this law is passed, Hungary will openly be an autocracy. ... Once it is passed only two questions will remain. Firstly, whether the Hungarian people want to live under authoritarian rule, and secondly, whether the European Union is really such a weak organisation that it is willing to stand by and watch as the last cornerstone of a Russian-style autocracy is laid in one of its member states in 2025.”
Extremely damaging for society
No one else will do the work of the NGOs, psychologist Dávid Szél warns in Telex:
“If the organisations that have been prevented from doing their work are no longer allowed to care for individuals, who will do this? ... Who, if not the Street Lawyer Association, will provide legal aid to the destitute mother of two children who faces eviction and has no money for a lawyer? Who, if not the Clean Air Action Group, will conduct an environmental study of the area where the state wants to build a battery factory? No one. People will be left to fend for themselves, which will no doubt translate into astronomic follow-up costs for the community.”
Opposition wants to gag the patriots
The pro-government daily Magyar Nemzet accuses the opposition of harbouring a similar desire to ban certain media:
“It was only four years ago that András Fekete-Győr, the pompous leader of [the opposition party] Momentum at the time, declared that he would ban journalists from practising their profession. ... And it is less than a year since the latest shameless 'messiah', Péter Magyar, declared: 'Enough! Our voters are demanding the replacement not only of the political elite but also of the media professionals who work for the elite.' ... With the help of foreign backers they hope to bring back the good old days and teach the patriots a lesson. But they won't succeed.”