By Palma Fazekas May 14, 2025
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nationalist Fidesz party has introduced legislation in parliament that would blacklist organizations receiving foreign funding if they are deemed a “threat” to national sovereignty in what critics say is another move to crack down on dissent with elections looming.
The law aimed at monitoring, restricting, and possibly banning of organizations that the controversial Sovereignty Protection Office (SPO) finds are endangering the “sovereignty of Hungary by carrying out activities aimed at influencing public life with foreign support” has been widely compared to Russia’s Foreign Agents law, which has been used to crack down on civil society.
Parliament, where Fidesz has a large majority, is expected to vote on the bill in the coming days.
The move follows a pledge by Orban in March to crack down on politicians and journalists who receive foreign funding and is seen as part of a broader campaign against civil society with more than a dozen legal changes targeting dissent, free expression and education approved in recent years.
“The bill submitted…follows the Russian pattern: it is about abuse of power, revenge and pettiness,” said Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony in a post on Facebook.
Russia has been accused of using its Foreign Agents Law to suppress almost all aspects of civil society.
The new law, if approved, gives the SPO the authority to create a list of legal entities funded from abroad if their activities are deemed a threat that could “undermine Hungary’s independent, democratic and rule-of-law-based character” or violate Hungary’s constitutional identity or Christian culture.
Such offenses include challenging the traditions of marriage, family, or gender.
Last month a constitutional amendment was adopted that officially bans the public display of homosexuality and gender diversity and approves police powers to use facial recognition technology.
Rights group the Hungarian Helsinki Committee has described legislation put forward by Orban’s government as a “a significant escalation in the government’s efforts to suppress dissent, weaken human rights protection and consolidate its grip on power.”
Orban has stepped up his traditional values campaign amid the rise of the Tisza party, which is headed by former Orban ally Peter Magyar.
Hungary is scheduled to hold general elections next year and opinion polls show Magyar and his party are surging, in part because of the country’s sputtering economy.
Source: foreign-agent-law-magyar-dissent/33414208.html
Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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