Hungary probes USAID’s influence, alleges foreign interference in domestic affairs

Hungary’s Sovereignty Protection Office has started probing “the background, goals, and impacts on Hungary” of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and published a “flash report” on their current findings on Wednesday.

In its report, the authority said USAID had been set up as “part of the US national security network aimed to exert covert or open pressure worldwide” and it was using “a global network occupying the civil, economic, political and media sectors of each country”. USAID, working in an “impenetrable” structure, gradually became “a proponent of the aspirations for power of the Democratic Party and linked economic circles” and “evolved as a political decision maker from an executive”, the report said.

According to the report, its increasing budget reflected USAID’s growing influence: the organisation had 52 billion dollars on its hands in 2023. “USAID had become a superpower of America,” the report said. Between 2020 and 2024, USAID distributed over 20 million dollars “among its organisations in Hungary”, the report said, but added that “the real sum sent to Hungary with the aim of influencing, including subsidies, could be several times as high”.

The “influencing organisations” were financed to promote “ideologically motivated” political goals such as promoting illegal migration, “LGBTQ propaganda” or the principle of open societies, authors of the report insisted. “USAID’s chaotic financing system was to camouflage the origin of funds,” the report added.