Orbán’s cabinet accepts most Venice Commission legal concerns over civil organisations law

The government accepts the Venice Commission’s concerns over the government-initiated bill on the transparency of civil organisations financed from abroad, and will amend the bill accordingly, the government office chief said on Thursday.

Speaking at a regular weekly press briefing, János Lázár said the cabinet had heard Justice Minister László Trócsányi on the matter on Wednesday and had taken his advice to accept the commission’s recommendations regarding the legal aspects of the bill. The government, however, rejected recommendations concerning the bill’s political aspects, Lázár added.

The government office chief emphasised that the Venice Commission does not doubt the legitimacy of the bill and had acknowledged that creating a transparent state of affairs concerning NGOs funded from abroad was a legitimate objective for parliament.

Lázár said the amended bill will only take into account financial support received from abroad in one fiscal year instead of three when determining if an NGO is eligible for deregistration as a foreign-backed group.

Answering a question on another subject, Lázár said the government is prepared to hold talks with the New York state government on the situation of Budapest’s Central European University at the end of June. The Hungarian government will be represented in the talks by prime ministerial commissioner Kristóf Altusz.

Source: MTI