The proposed bill is part of a broader scheme of democratic decline in Hungary, where the Government of Orbán has increasingly targeted independent institutions and dissident votes. It also echoes the law of Russia’s “foreign agent” that the Kremlin uses to delete independent NGOs and votes.
The groups placed on the Hungarian government’s list will lose access to donations from 1% income tax on citizens and should prove that all funding is domestic. The leaders of these organizations are also said to be faced with strict disclosure rules, including compulsory asset declarations.
The bill also allows the authorities to carry out intrusive inspections, to enter documents and devices and to impose serious fines – up to 25 times the amount of any foreign funding received, to be paid within 15 days.
The bill indicates that threats to national sovereignty understand the influence of public opinion, the promotion of democratic debate or the values defined by the State as Christian culture and traditional family roles.
The Fidesz legislator, János Halász, has justified the bill by saying that in recent years, “abuses which seriously violate Hungary sovereignty” had been exposed.
In a fiery speech on March 15, Orbán promised to repress a “shadow army” of political opponents, journalists, judges and militants of the country, who, according to him, worked for foreign powers. He compared his political opponents to “insects” who deserved “shame and contempt”, and alluded to an “spring cleaning”.
