Sovereignty Protection Office: Transparency International Hungary activity harmful for country
The Sovereignty Protection Office said on Monday that the Transparency International Hungary Foundation (TIM) carries out activities that are harmful to Hungary, stigmatising the country and state institutions and exerting influence based on disinformation.
The office on June 18, 2024, launched a one-off, comprehensive inquiry into the activities of TIM and found that the assessment of the organisation’s financing, activities, and network of relations proved that it carries out political pressure activities as part of a global lobbying network operating for over thirty years, along the interests of the extensive powers that stand behind the network, a statement said. The World Bank founded the TI network to represent US interests and fulfill its strategic goals.
TIM performs its activities with the involvement of foreign state funding, it said. The main financers of the international network operating the organisation are states that have the largest voting power in the World Bank and the European Commission. Also among significant supporters is the Open Society Foundation linked to US businessman George Soros, it added. More than 80 percent of the organisation’s operations are financed from foreign sources.
The terms “transparency” and “anti-corruption” used to shape public opinion by the international network that stands behind TIM do not serve the clarity of public life and balanced competition between market players but are tools to enforce US economic and political interests, the statement said. The organisation performs activities that are harmful to Hungary, stigmatises the country and state institutions and exerts influence based on disinformation by monopolising these terms.
The primary tool of the organisation is a corruption perceptions index prepared in the Berlin center, which the organisations financing and/or cooperating with TI, and TI itself, can use “manipulatively” to serve their interests best, the Sovereignty Protection Office said. The report prepared by the office shows that the corruption perceptions index and its utilisation possesses all formal characteristics of disinformation, and can be considered disinformation “because it is capable of presenting untrue statements as the truth”, it added.
related article: Transparency International’s shocking finding about corruption in Hungary
The methodology of the corruption perceptions index is “manipulative”, making the index capable of influencing the international assessment of countries, it said. It added that TIM attempts to paint an unfavourable picture of Hungary and Hungarian state administration organisations by communicating this index. “The TIM’s shadow reports containing disinformation prepared for the European Commission cause real political, economic and social damage to Hungary,” the office said.
The “shadow reports” methodology is kept hidden from Hungarian society. At the same time, the “disinformation campaign” built on them attempts to restrict Hungary’s ability to enforce its political and economic interests internationally, the statement said. The “shadow reports” supplied by TIM to accompany rule-of-law reports are suitable for influencing domestic democratic competition, it added.
The Sovereignty Protection Office also said that TIM had refused to cooperate right from the start during the inquiry. “Despite this, based on the analysis of information revealed and an assessment of correlations, the office concluded that the organisation’s operations are not transparent,” it added.
Transparency International Hungary response
As the TIM official site said, Transparency International Hungary’s response in July to the Sovereignty Protection Office inquiry can be found here. The complaint to the Constitutional Court is available here, and the investigation with 62 questions is accessible here.
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5 Comments
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
Fidesz cannot cope with critical assessment of its’ wrongdoing. This attack on Transparency International Hungary is absolutely no surprise. Thank God that they and other independent organizations exist to hold governments accountable. Law enforcement already exists in Hungary to charge any person or organization should they commit a crime. Obviously the Sovereigty Protection Office was created as a political persecution office staffed by hyper Fidesz loyalists. If they actually wanted to investigate malign foreign influence obviously it is Russian influence but in fact is that malign Russian influence that helped to create the Sovereignty Protection Office in the first place as a copy of the same political persecution apparatus Putin created for his own country.
@Larry: ennyi.
We all know the game. TI operate across the world and use the same metrics to score countries, Hungary is not an exception and TI don’t go out of their way to give Hungary a hard time. In fact, I’m sure that everyone that works at TI globally would be delighted if they were in a position to upgrade Hungary’s ranking. They and many people in Hungary would breathe a sigh of relief.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
No group with foreign financing should be allowed in the country. Russia managed to get rid of anti-national NGOs. It is time that Hungary does the same.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
TI´s data sources are objective, there is a sound methodology – so the ranking is actually pretty robust . Even if you do not like the outcome. A good thing is that our Politicians are paying attention. As are all the foreign investors (think RISK). Perhaps some action to ameliorate some of the deficiencies would be more appropriate?
Speaking of manipulating – I believe our Politicians are masters of “interpreting” KSH data and cherry-picking comparables?
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
Headline should be ‘SPO claims TI Hungary harms the 1%, yet good for 99%’?