Hungary’s foreign minister defends civil organisation transparency law

Access to information on foreign funding to non-governmental organisations is a legitimate need of the Hungarian public, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Péter Szijjártó reacted to comments by German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer that the German government is “very concerned” about a law passed by parliament on Tuesday that requires civil groups in Hungary receiving foreign donations above a certain threshold to register as organisations funded from abroad.

Schaefer said that by passing the law without consulting those it concerns, Hungary “joins the ranks” of countries like Russia, China and Israel which he said consider the funding of NGOs by foreign donors “a hostile or at least an unfriendly act”.

Speaking at a press conference on another subject, Szijjártó said: “You would expect a Social Democrat-led German foreign ministry to only express criticism against other countries based on precise information and not biased, baseless accusations.”