Budapest Mayor Karácsony would “kill” Orbán government’s “Putinisation” bill with the EU’s Court of Justice – UPDATED: Kocsis
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony has turned to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over the bill on the transparency of public life, the Mayor’s Office said on Thursday.
In a letter to the EC president, Karácsony said the bill submitted by ruling Fidesz “introduces regulations for organisations that influence public life from foreign funding”. The mayor said the rules were aimed at “gutting news portals that make up a large part of Hungary’s independent media” as well as anti-corruption and rights advocate civil groups. HERE is the letter.
Karácsony said there was a risk that if EU bodies did not take urgent legal action against the law, the civil groups in question could “suffer irreversible damage, and with them the fundamental values of democracy and the rule of law”.
In his letter, Karácsony gave a detailed outline of the bill, saying that it also allowed legal entities to be listed without recourse to legal remedy “if they use foreign funding to carry out activities aimed at influencing public life which violate certain constitutional values, portray them in a negative light or support actions against them”.
Under the law, the entities in question would be listed by the government at the recommendation of the Sovereignty Protection Office, in connection with which the EC has launched an infringement procedure, the mayor said. He added that the law could potentially apply to all civil groups critical of the government and more than half of Hungary’s “independent online media outlets”.
Karácsony voices fear for independent media
Karácsony warned that if the bill is passed, “independent media” and rights groups would lose their most important financial resources, as they would become ineligible for personal income tax donations, “micro-donations” and EU funding.
The mayor appealed to von der Leyen to consider the possibility of requesting that the Court of Justice of the European Union issue a temporary order prohibiting the application of the law after it is passed, “preferably as part of the ongoing infringement procedure concerning the Sovereignty Protection Office“.
- HERE is everything you should know about the bill.
Fidesz supports law on public transparency, says parliamentary group leader
Deputies of ruling Fidesz fully support the party’s recently submitted bill on the transparency of public life, group leader Mate Kocsis told a press conference on Wednesday.
“The proposal concerns all organisations that conduct activities aimed at influencing (Hungarian) politics, using foreign funds, in a way that harms Hungary’s sovereignty,” Kocsis said.
According to Kocsis, it was revealed after 2022 that “foreign states including the US” sought to set up organisations to exert political pressure in other countries and finance media activities “to remove governments they don’t like”. Kocsis mentioned “several of Hungary’s leftist media outlets” for example.
Moreover, he said, “they finance pseudo-civil organisations and activists”, and “they often pay for politicians to get their own interests promoted.” In 2022, the election campaign of Hungary’s allied leftist parties “was aided by several million dollars”.
Kocsis: those that have nothing to hide should not worry
Kocsis added, however, that “the USAID scandal in the US this year” has offered an opportunity for the US administration “to remove that practice and stop trying to interfere with the democratic processes of other countries.”
Concerning the proposal, Kocsis said “those that have nothing to hide, those that do not seek to influence politics out of foreign funds to harm the country’s sovereignty should not worry.”
Under the proposal, the justice ministry would compile a list of organisations on recommendation by the Sovereignty Protection Office to be submitted to the government for approval. The law will ensure opportunities for legal remedy, Kocsis said, adding that “the proposal fully compiles with Hungary’s rule of law”.
Kocsis said the list of organisations would be public, adding that “these procedures will not be conducted in secret”. He also said leaders of the listed organisations would be obliged to submit asset declarations as “key public players”.
Transparency act ‘best way to effectively combat Ukrainian propaganda’, Kocsis added
The transparency act is the best tool for effectively combating “Ukrainian propaganda”, the head of Fidesz’s parliamentary group said on Facebook on Thursday. Kocsis said NGOs and media financed from abroad first spread “migration propaganda before moving on to gender propaganda and then war propaganda”. “Now the same organisations are the most important advocates of Ukrainian propaganda aiming to discredit Hungary,” Kocsis said.
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