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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/14/hungary-considering-law-to-monitor-and-ban-groups-seen-as-threat-to-national-sovereignty>
"Hungary’s parliament is considering legislation that would give authorities
broad powers to monitor, penalise and potentially ban organisations it
describes as a threat to national sovereignty, in a move that opposition
politicians warned would allow Viktor Orbán’s government to potentially shut
down all independent media and NGOs engaged in public affairs.
The bill, submitted late on Tuesday by a lawmaker in Orbán’s rightwing populist
Fidesz party, seeks to expand the authority of the country’s controversial
sovereignty protection office.
The draft law would allow the office to recommend the blacklisting of
organisations deemed to “threaten the sovereignty of Hungary by using foreign
funding to influence public life”.
The legislation takes a broad view of what constitutes a threat, describing it
as acts such as undermining Hungary’s constitutional identity or Christian
culture or challenging the primacy of marriage, the family and biological
sexes.
The bill, which Fidesz is expected to pass in parliament using its two-thirds
majority, comes after a February speech in which Orbán vowed to crack down on
organisations that receive foreign funding, saying they “have to be taken down,
they have to be swept away … it is necessary to make their existence legally
impossible”.
Analysts linked the tough tone to the fact that Orbán, who has long faced
criticism for weakening democratic institutions and gradually undermining the
rule of law in Hungary, is facing an unprecedented challenge from a former
member of the Fidesz elite, Péter Magyar, before elections next year.
The bill would also allow authorities to comb through the bank accounts,
documents and electronic devices of blacklisted organisations.
These organisations would also be barred from receiving donations via
Hungarians’ income taxes – a crucial source of income for many of them – and
would need special authorisation to accept foreign funds. Donors to these
organisations would have to submit a declaration confirming that their
contributions were not sourced from abroad.
If the organisations are found to have used foreign money to threaten Hungary’s
sovereignty, they could face fines amounting to 25 times the funds received.
Failure to pay within 15 days or repeated offences could result in them being
shut down."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
