Fidesz proposes five-party talks on bill concerning foreign-backed organisations
Budapest, March 14 (MTI) – Ruling Fidesz is calling for five-party talks on a draft bill concerning the transparency of organisations funded by foreign entities, Fidesz group leader Lajos Kósa said on Tuesday.
The aim of the bill is to clarify how much money certain organisations receive from foreign donors and for what purpose, Kósa told a press conference.
Addressing the same press conference, János Halász, deputy spokesman for Fidesz’s parliamentary group, talked about a bill submitted to parliament by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén and government office chief János Lázár that would ban the use of totalitarian symbols for commercial purposes. Answering a question about how Dutch beer company Heineken, whose logo features a five-pointed red star, had impacted the bill, Halász said the bill aimed to “eliminate [those symbols’] pollution of the visual environment”.
Halász confirmed that the bill targets Heineken’s use of a red star, among other companies and symbols, but added that the ruling parties had no intention of banning the beer. He noted that mineral water bottler San Pellegrino also features a red star on its products.
The leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) said in response that while Fidesz would consult the other parties concerning funds from abroad, it is reluctant to talk about public funds leaving the country.
“Kósa has been silent about billions (of forints) from the central budget which Fidesz has used to support football clubs abroad; he has not talked about the residency bond business, from which offshore companies registered in tax havens have profited tens of billions, nor did he touch upon offshore companies associated with Fidesz and registered in Switzerland,” DK said in a statement.
DK insisted that Fidesz’s “witch-hunt” against civil groups is aimed to serve as a cover up for the party’s “exporting looted public funds”.
Source: MTI
