Hungary delays vote on ‘foreign-funded’ NGO, media law

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Hungary delays vote on ‘foreign-funded’ NGO, media law

9:06 CAT | 05 Jun 2025

FILE - Critics consider the 'transparency' bill as the government's latest attempt to muzzle dissenting voices [File photo: AFP/Ferenc Isza]

Hungary’s ruling party on Wednesday said it was delaying next week’s vote on a law that would allow the government to sanction “foreign-funded” NGOs and media that has drawn protests.

Critics consider the bill “on transparency in public life” as the latest attempt by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban to muzzle dissenting voices since returning to power in 2010.

In the latest protest against the law, thousands marched in silence, many with their mouths taped shut, in central Budapest Sunday.

A vote on the planned law was scheduled to take place next week, but Orban’s ruling Fidesz said it would take “longer to process the substantive comments received”.

“Debate on the proposal will continue in autumn,” the party’s parliamentary group press department told AFP.

Mate Kocsis, the head of Fidesz in parliament, said on Facebook there were “serious organisations outside the affected parties that have good suggestions for the transparency law”.

The legislation would empower the government to sanction organisations that “threaten the sovereignty of Hungary by using foreign funding to influence public life”.

The government argues these measures are necessary to defend against “foreign interference”.

According to the draft law sanctioned organisations would need permission to receive foreign funding.

They would also be barred from receiving donations through Hungary’s annual one-percent income tax contribution scheme, an important source of revenue for non-profits.

The proposed legislation has been condemned by the opposition, which has accused the government of copying Russia’s authoritarian evolution.

Representatives of more than 80 media outlets from 22 countries — including Britain’s The Guardian and France’s Liberation — have also urged their governments and the European Union to do everything in their power to prevent its enactment.

The European Commission has called on Hungary to withdraw the draft, vowing to take the “necessary action” if it is adopted.

Source: AFP