Hungary: vote on law targeting NGOs and media postponed until autumn
A vote on a controversial bill aimed at penalising ‘foreign-funded’ NGOs and media has been postponed in Hungary. Critics say this bill is an attack on fundamental rights and freedoms. The European Commission has also condemned the proposed law.
Budapest (AFP) - It will not take place next week after all: the vote on the Hungarian law aimed at penalising ‘foreign-funded’ NGOs and media has been postponed, a decision that comes after fierce criticism.
‘Debates on this bill will continue in the autumn’, the parliamentary group of the ruling Fidesz party told AFP on Wednesday.
According to its chairman Mate Kocsis, ‘serious organisations outside the affected parties’ have made comments that need to be examined. Internal criticism has also been voiced, according to press reports.
Widespread criticism
The text on ‘transparency in public life’, tabled in mid-May, has been condemned by the European Commission, as well as by hundreds of NGOs and the media. Several demonstrations have also taken place in Budapest in recent weeks.
In a letter made public on Wednesday, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O'Flaherty, again urged parliamentarians not to adopt the bill, expressing concern about its impact on fundamental rights and freedoms.
Threat to survival of independent media
According to Viktor Orban's government, which has been gradually dismantling the checks and balances in the name of an ‘illiberal’ policy since his return in 2010, the aim is to dismantle ‘propaganda networks’ financed by foreign funds and influencing the electoral process.
In concrete terms, any organisation ‘threatening Hungary's sovereignty by using foreign funds to influence public life’ could be blacklisted. This could result in fines and the inability to benefit from taxpayers' donations, which are essential to the survival of many independent media.
Organisations that ‘violate or criticise’ the values enshrined in the Constitution are targeted, including ‘the primacy of marriage, the family and the biological sexes’ and ‘the unity of the Hungarian nation’.
If these rules are broken, heavy fines will be imposed, of up to 25 times the amount of financial aid received, with the threat of a ban on activities in the event of a repeat offence.
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