Majority of Hungarians dislikes ‘organisations financed from abroad’, says government-close pollster
Fully 62 percent of respondents in a recent Századvég survey expressed a negative opinion on “political organisations and activists financed from abroad” while 24 percent held the opposite view, the pollster said on Wednesday.
Similarly, 57 percent of respondents had a negative view on “Hungarian media and journalists financed from abroad” as against 30 percent of the opposite view. Századvég conducted its survey in view of a recent bill submitted by ruling Fidesz, aimed to “create an opportunity to list organisations financed from abroad and jeopardising Hungary’s sovereignty”.
Századvég asked participants about the former US administration’s using its agency for international development (USAID) to “promote the left-liberal political agenda worldwide” and 73 percent of respondents said they had heard about USAID’s activities. Fully 66 percent said foreign countries or political organisations “are not authorised to finance Hungarian journalists or media to make footage or write articles about the Hungarian government at any time, attacking and discrediting the government’s goals, thus influencing the domestic politics of an independent country,” Szazadved said.
Seventy-seven percent of respondents would support a probe into how Hungarian organisations spend funds received from USAID as well as from the European Union, Századvég said.
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