On Tuesday 13 May, shortlly before midnight, János Halász, a Member of Parliament from Fidesz, the party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, tabled a bill in Parliament aimed at establishing “a register of organisations that threaten Hungary’s sovereignty with foreign aid”.
The bill, entitled “On transparency in the public sphere” is directly inspired by the Russian law on so-called “foreign agents”, which has been in force in Russia since 2012. The Hungarian text targets “any legal person and entity without legal personality that threatens Hungary’s sovereignty by carrying out activities aimed at influencing public life”.
According to the proposed legislation, in case the Hungarian Sovereignty Protection Office (SPO) deems that the activities of a foreign-funded organisation threatens Hungary’s sovereignty, it may recommend that the government places the targeted organisation on a list. The listed organisations would no longer be able to collect individual tax donations and foreign funding, at the risk of heavy fines and confiscation of its assets for the benefit of the National Cooperation Fund.
In practical terms, if adopted, the measure will target a number of independent media that depend on European funds or donations from international institutions for their survival. In a press release supporting the bill, the Hungarian government pointed out that “millions of dollars, mainly from American and Brussels entities, have been channelled to civil society groups and the media (…) with the aim of manipulating voter sentiment in line with external interests”.