NGOs

Funding available to civil organisations 

Daily News Hungary

Budapest, November 30 (MTI) – Civil organisations can bid for a total of 2.15 billion forints (EUR 6.9m) of funding from the national cooperation fund to help build communities and create new opportunities, the state secretary for church, ethnic minority and civil social relations said on Monday.

Mklos Soltesz told a press conference that the tenders for supporting civil organisations’ operations were announced last week.

A total of 64,000 civil organisations operate in Hungary, with 16 percent supporting leisure activities, 13.5 percent cultural activities, 13.5 percent education, 12 percent sports and 1.3 percent is for rights organisations, he said.

In addition to Hungary’s civil support system, resources are also available from the Norway Fund, he said. This latter is not charity from the Norwegian state but rather the country has undertaken to distribute funding as part of a contractual system that also “secures excellent and very significant economic opportunities” for Norway, he added.

Soltesz insisted that Norway Fund tenders should be handled the same way as European Union tenders, based on joint decisions by the Hungarian government and Brussels.

“We hope that in the years to come, and already next year, the Norwegian government will change its approach. We have witnessed European governments changing their approach in many ways … [given that] one of the most important elements of our Europeanness is the preservation and maintenance of Christian values,” he said.

Deputy state secretary Attila Fulop said tenders for supporting the professional programmes of civil organisations will also be announced in December.

In the case of tenders announced last week, the submission deadline for applications will be early January and the funding on offer ranges between 250,000 forints and 3 million forints per applicant.

Award for blocking the internet tax

Daily News Hungary

The Facebook group “100 thousand against the internet tax” won the European Civic Forum’s award in the “Citizens’ campaign of the year” category in 2015, which is the most prestigious award among non-governmental organizations, nol.hu writes.

It was emphasized that the government had no choice but to cancel its plan to introduce the internet tax as a result of the massive protest. This was the first (and up until now, the last) occasion that the Orbán regime backed out of a plan entirely, because of civil protests. According to the Forum, this movement has organized the biggest opposition demonstration in Hungary in the past 25 years.

The European Civic Forum has been rewarding awards for 10 years now, in four categories: Media Initiative of the Year, Personality of the Year, NGO of the Year, and Citizens’ Campaign of the Year.

The ceremony will take place in the Council of Europe at Strasbourg next Thursday. Balázs Gulyás, leader of “100 thousand against the internet tax” told 444.hu that this award can make it clear for the European public that Hungary is not equal to Viktor Orbán and his policy.

based on an article of nol.hu
translated by Adrienn Sain

NGOs welcome end of tax probe over Norway grants

Budapest (MTI) – Okotars welcomes the cessation of a probe by Hungary’s tax office (NAV) into the operations of the foundation and 17 other NGOs in connection with funding they received from the Norway Civil Grant.

It has become clear that Okotars and the other organisations acted legally and their documentation was in order while they complied with supervision requirements, Okotars said in a statement sent to MTI on Tuesday.

The “illegal” probe in the case was “completely baseless”, as representatives of supporting countries had stated before, the statement said.

The Norway Civil Grant had awarded grants to more than 430 civil society projects in various areas over the past two years, it noted.

The suspended tax numbers of Okotars and its partners — Autonomia, DemNet and Karpatok foundations — are still “in the hands of the court,” but all channels of appeal will be sought to prove the rectitude of the NGOs, it said.

NAV said in December last year that it had ordered an investigation for suspected misuse of public funds in connection with Norway grants. The Government Control Office (Kehi) filed complaints last November, claiming irregularities while auditing Norway grants.

The press office of NAV’s regional directorate for Central Hungary confirmed to MTI that the investigation was closed on Oct. 7. “due to lack of evidence of a crime”.

Political Capital: Serious abuses are possible in the Hungarian elections

Daily News Hungary

According to Political Capital, electoral law needs to amend in several respects. The analyst company reports that if everything remains that way, fundamental rights are violated and serious abuses are possible. For example, deceased people will get letters and it cannot be controlled who votes and sends it back instead of them. The rules on restructuring of constituencies should also be modified, index.hu wrote.

Political Capital draws attention in connection with constituencies that the map should be re-drawn due to population movements, and therefore rules should be amended. By law, the population of constituencies cannot derivate from the average by 20% in any direction.

Already last year, 15% fewer people lived in four constituencies than the average (3 in Tolna county and one in Somogy), and 15% more people could vote in one (Pest 5th).

Voting by correspondence is only possible for citizens not having an address in Hungary, ie. for the Hungarians abroad. PC thinks there are more solutions to the residents abroad can vote the same way, like the extension of voting by correspondence or the full removal of it. Electronic voting could be also effective, but it is not so likely today.

One of the disadvantages of voting by correspondence is that you cannot verify who is voting. According to Political Capital, it is possible that anyone can send back the letter of a deceased person and the abuse will never be revealed. The analysts say a simple solution could be if National Election Office (NVI) asks the citizens to send back a document, and if they do, their registration will be reactivated, but only for the current election, index.hu wrote.

It makes difficult to look the campaigns transparently that, although parties start their campaigns months before the elections, the official campaign starts only fifty days before the selected date. That is, the parties do not have to report their spent millions before this period. It is also a problem that the parties can outsource the campaign to NGOs. OSCE previously named the posters of COF which clearly supported the campaign of Fidesz.

According to PC,  a part of the rules regarding to the elections campaign should be extended beyond the campaign period.

In many cases, there are suspicions that candidates, political parties copied the signatories’ data and forged their signatures. That is why, Political Capital says, electoral commissions and offices should have more licenses and longer deadlines to eliminate frauds.

based on the article of index.hu
translated by BA

Hungarian Africa Society tries to help the migrant situation with UN

According to globoport.hu, United Nations celebrates the 70th anniversary of its foundation at the 2015 NGO conference and it brings together the civil society organizations of the nations. Dorottya Patay, Hungarian Africa Society’s civil and humanitarian affairs director also participated in this year’s conference.

The Hungarian Africa Society was present at the conference held at the UN headquarters in August this year, which was organized for global NGO-s in New York. The participation of the Hungarian Africa Society was particularly important this year because the organization carries a very high burden due to the current refugee situation in Hungary and Europe.

“We’re trying to use as many mean as possible in order to participate the most efficiently in solving the problem. That is why we participated in the conference. We used this opportunity to discuss with NGO-s and UN representatives how we can perform most effectively at this kind of problem” – Dorottya Patay said.

“The moral of the participation in the conference was that the global crisis that currently exists requires the stakeholders and the participants not to try to resolve the situation individually, but to find the solution by international collaboration. In our case, this means that we discuss with the various sub branches of the UN and with the NGO-s, and we try to resolve the situation together. It is very important to use different resources that we can get. It can be human, material and professional resource. Our organization, as before, places an even greater emphasis on reaching applications, using external experts.”

“The primary objective of the Hungarian Africa Society is to relieve pressure on refugee reception centers. We can provide important health services, since the medical side of AHU is quite strong. Thus, we focus on it primarily. Due to the very high burden on refugee camps, our goal is, for this purpose, to send doctors who can help the healthcare services” – Dorottya Patay said after the conference.

What is ultimately turned out at this year’s conference that the international organizations try to address and resolve the situation together.

based on the article of globoport.hu
translated by BA

Photo: globoport.hu

Investigation into use of Norway Grants extended

Budapest, August 27 (MTI) – An investigation into the financing of NGOs supported by Norway Grants has been extended until November, daily Magyar Nemzet said on Thursday.

At the same time, government representatives recently agreed about continuing diplomatic coordination talks about the Norway Grants in Brussels, the paper added.

The government said in a letter made available to the paper that the talks are expected to be concluded in September 2015.

The government’s aim is to ensure that programmes should continue in every area overseen by Hungary, it added.

Hungary would like to see the original deadline for the implementation of programmes extended by one year to April 30, 2017. This would be especially important in programme areas where the evaluation of tenders and implementation could not be started, the paper said.

Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein decided last May to suspend further disbursement of funds to Hungary over concerns about the Hungarian government’s introducing changes to the distribution of grants through civil organisations.

Liberal democracy “not exclusive paradigm”, says Christian Democrat lawmaker

Daily News Hungary

(MTI) – Hungary’s government is again being attacked, a party official of the junior ruling Christian Democrats said on Thursday, this time for daring to suggest that liberal democracy is not an exclusive political paradigm and that Christian democracy has its own valid place.

Referring to recent reports by “liberal activist groups and their supporters” which contend that Hungary’s government has launched an attack against civil groups, Imre Vejkey, the party’s deputy leader, told a press conference: “These lack any reality”.

“Does anyone really think that presidents Obama or Clinton wake up and enquire about the Okotars Foundation?”, he said, referring to the US president’s recent speech on the protection of civil society, mentioning Hungary among countries which restrict civil society.

The foundation made headlines after police recently searched its headquarters in Budapest on suspicion of mismanagement of the Norway Fund.

Europe-wide, foundations close to investor Gyorgy Soros manage monies of the Norway Fund, and Clinton’s think tank Center for American Progress in 2011 and 2012 supported ex-premier Gordon Bajnai’s foundation, Vejkey said.

He argued for the value of Christian democracy and said that the government “strives to create a country which is just and competitive at the same time”.

Hungary’s government and PM Viktor Orban was widely criticised after the premier delivered a speech in Romania in July in which he slammed the model of the liberal western welfare state, arguing that Hungary, in this respect, would follow an “illiberal approach”.

Vejkey added that the European Union had had a heritage of Christian democracy but it had ended up denying it.

Radical nationalist Jobbik said Obama’s remarks came as an “open admission” of his country’s continuous interference in other countries’ internal affairs. Marton Gyongyosi, the party’s deputy group leader, said that in an effort to further expand its influence, the United States continuously interferes via “agent organisations” disguised as global, independent bodies operating as NGOs, and exerts pressure on other governments. The US thus violates the principle of national sovereignty, he said.

Gyongyosi said that fiery reactions in Hungary to the US president’s remarks reveal which parties and organisations stand most dedicated to representing American interests in Hungary, Gyongyosi said in a statement.

COF approaches Obama over US criticism of Hungary

Budapest, September 5 (MTI) – The pro-government Civil Unity Forum (COF) has written an open letter to US President Barack Obama over critical remarks “by the US government and from the American public” in connectin with Hungary, COF founder Laszlo Csizmadia told a press conference today.

The “criticism and attacks voiced directly or reported in the press mostly arise from misunderstading or deliberate misinterpretation of conditions in Hungary” and will “seriously and negatively” impact ties between the two countries, Csizmadia quoted the letter as saying.

Signatories to the letter said they found it “especially worrying” that open criticism voiced by US diplomats concerning Hungary’s politics “becomes a part of Hungary’s domestic affairs and works to influence (those affairs)”, and voiced hope that that approach could be changed. A different attitude would be greatly needed “in light of the current developments in Ukraine or the horrendous terrorist acts in the Middle East,” they wrote.

In its letter COF assured the US that Hungary does not wish to move away from its western allies, and will continue in its commitment to build freedom and democracy.

“It is our conviction that a personal meeting between the leaders of our countries would be the best way to reinforce mutual trust and commitment,” the letter concluded.

COF is expected to hand over the letter to US embassy charge d’affaires Andre Goodfriend after the press conference.

Photo: MTI – Laszlo Beliczay