NGOs

NGOs turn to top court over ‘stigmatising law’ in Hungary

Daily News Hungary

NGOs have turned to Hungary’s Constitutional Court over the recently adopted law on the financing of civil organisations which the NGOs say stigmatises them.

In a statement on Tuesday, 23 NGOs signed up to the constitutional complaint organised by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ – Társaság a Szabadságjogokért) and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (Magyar Helsinki Bizottság) civil groups.

The NGOs said they consider the law to be legally problematic and harmful to society, adding that the law only served to underline public trust in the organisations as well as their credibility.

“All this harms the right to privacy set down in the fundamental law, harms respect for laws governing the private sector, and violates the freedom of expression and association,” the NGOs said.

In reaction, Fidesz communication chief Balézs Hidvéghi said in a statement that “Soros-funded pro-migrant organisations” reject transparency because they do not want to declare from whom, and how much support, they receive from abroad. It undermines trust in the organisations that they refuse to admit whose interests they serve by helping migrants, Hidvéghi said.

By refusing to register, the organisations not only break Hungarian law but also defy the opinion of Hungarians. In the last “national consultation” query, 99 percent of respondents supported the law on NGOs, Hidvéghi said.

NGOs’ ‘promotion’ of migration a threat to internal security, says PM advisor

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The activities of NGOs that promote migration “often by collaborating with human smuggling rings” pose a threat to internal security, the prime minister’s chief domestic security advisor said on Tuesday.

These organisations are reluctant to sign a code of conduct Italy has asked NGOs operating migrant rescue ships in the Mediterranean to sign, and are unwilling to abide by Hungarian laws, György Bakondi told public media.

Hungary, however, is of the view that the activities of NGOs aiding migrants must be transparent, he said.

Bakondi said that if the organisations in question adhered to the laws, authorities still would not be able to prevent them from pursuing their activities, “but at least they will be transparent, and this is very important”.

He said the recent developments concerning NGOs in Italy had reaffirmed the Hungarian government’s position that foreign-funded organisations “promoting migration” should not be allowed to keep their activities secret and must become transparent.

The activities and financial functioning of “pro-migration” NGOs “raise a lot of questions not just in the Mediterranean, but also in inner Europe, including Hungary”, Bakondi said.

If Brussels had listened to the Hungarian prime minister and the government’s proposals to strengthen border protection and that migrants’ asylum requests should be assessed outside the European Union’s borders, the bloc could have succeeded in curbing mass illegal migration long ago and could have prevented the thousands of deaths resulting from human smuggling, he added.

Hungarian government to support NGOs helping people with disabilities

Daily News Hungary economy

The government is supporting NGOs that help people living with disabilities and their families by a total of 171.5 million forints (EUR 560,000) available through tender, the human resources ministry state secretary for social affairs and inclusion said on Monday. 

The Government supports the initiatives of non-governmental organisations helping handicapped people and their families. Those organisations are eligible to submit applications in response to the call for proposals with an allocation worth almost HUF 171.5 million in total to be closed on Wednesday which seek to launch local, regional or national programmes to combat isolation, Károly Czibere told the press.
The Minister of State for Social Affairs and Social Inclusion of the Ministry of Human Capacities said at his press conference held on Monday in Budapest: their goal is to enable civil society partners seeking to extend a helping hand to develop their services designed to encourage social inclusion and to improve the quality of life, or to launch new services.

He stressed: the Government does not leave families raising children with disabilities or looking after handicapped or disabled relatives on their own in their daily struggles and does not let them be isolated, but provides every assistance for them, and this is why it also supports the services provided by NGOs.

In a cohesive society, we cannot allow that looking after a handicapped family member should become a straight path to impoverishment, he said.

He told the press: with the call for proposals launched every year, the Government seeks to help and encourage partners in civil society which have been operational for a long time, are embedded in their respective local communities, have gathered extensive professional experience and are thoroughly acquainted with the needs of handicapped people. In his view, we need services of a type which „the national system of care services is unable to provide”.

The Minister of State mentioned among „best practices” parent assisting groups, legal consulting services, and the programme of the Salve Vita Foundation entitled „A job for you, a dream for me” which seeks to find jobs for handicapped people and persons with altered working capacity.

Katalin Vég, Managing Director of the Foundation, one of the winners of the former call for proposals highlighted that the most important objective is not to allow people with disabilities to become isolated. By her account, as part of their programme, 270 applicants were able to try „their dream jobs”, mostly in work places where people with disabilities were not previously employed.

She pointed out that, during the course of the programme, both handicapped workers and employers were able to obtain a first-hand experience of reality, and to acquaint themselves with the available opportunities. Meeting in person is the most effective method to disperse fears, she said.

Hungary sends response to EC regarding infringement procedures

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Hungary has sent its response to the European Commission regarding the infringement procedures launched because of Hungary’s laws on NGOs financed from abroad and on foreign universities, a justice ministry official said on Monday. 

Last month, the EC stepped up an infringement procedure against Hungary for failing to bring its amended higher education act into compliance with European Union law. It also launched an infringement procedure against the country over a law requiring civil groups to register with a court as foreign-backed groups once their foreign donations reach 7.2 million forints (EUR 23,600) a year.

The EC gave Hungary one month to respond to the matters.

In its response, the government presented its case that the restrictions imposed by the laws in question are necessary and proportionate, state secretary Pál Völner told a press conference.

“We can’t help that the restrictions harm the interests of [US financier] George Soros,” but “not even he is above the law” in Hungary, Völner said. He expressed hope that the EC would “return to the legal ground on which these regulations were adopted”.

Völner insisted that the disagreements between Hungary and the EC regarding the laws in question were mainly political rather than legal in nature.

Regarding the infringement procedure over the amended higher education act, Völner insisted that regulating higher education was a national competency, arguing that the EC’s authority in the matter was “debatable to begin with”.

He suggested that the EC was applying double standards against Hungary in connection with foreign universities, arguing that Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic also require foreign universities operating in their countries to undertake educational activities in their home countries. Slovakia even requires its foreign universities to be headquartered in the EEC, he argued.

Völner said the EC had also criticised the requirement for an interstate agreement to be signed before foreign universities may award degrees in Hungary. The state secretary argued, however, that this stipulation “poses no obstacle between parties willing to work together”. Völner pointed out that Hungary had recently signed an interstate agreement with the US state of Maryland to ensure the continued operations of McDaniel College in Budapest under the amended higher education law. He said the rule prohibiting foreign universities’ use of identical names in different languages was necessary for the sake of credibility.

The aim of the law as a whole is to help identify “phantom universities”, universities without real backgrounds or universities that do not award valuable degrees, he insisted.

On the topic of the infringement procedure launched in connection with the NGO transparency law, Völner noted that in its preliminary opinion about the then bill, the Venice Commission had said the legislation pursued “legitimate aims”. Parliament eventually passed a law amended in line with the Venice Commission’s recommendations in connection with the bill, he noted.

Regarding the EC’s concern that the law introduced restrictions to the free movement of capital, Völner insisted that this was not the case, arguing that civil groups remained free to secure funding from any source they choose. The law ensures the transparent flow of money in the civil sector, he insisted.

“Transparency is needed because it is clear that NGOs worldwide insert themselves into the political process without being subject to laws regulating political parties and influence public opinion while eluding regulation,” he said.

Commenting on a suggestion that the civil groups most vocal in their criticism of the law had yet to register as foreign-backed groups, Völner said this was a form of political protest on their part. If they officially announce their refusal to register, they will face legal action which could end with their dissolution as NGOs in Hungary, he added.

Governing Fidesz says some in Venice Commission sponsored by Soros

The parliamentary group leader of governing Fidesz said there are people in the Venice Commission who are sponsored by Hungarian-born American financier George Soros in an interview with public radio broadcast on Sunday.

Hungary’s higher education act is overall in line with existing European norms, but its amended version tightening rules on foreign universities already present in the country contain some “highly problematic” requirements, the Venice Commission said in a preliminary opinion on the law published on Friday.

These people do what Soros says and must search for legal explanations, Lajos Kósa said on Kossuth Radio.

He said it was “absurd” that the European Commission believes the Central European University does not have to comply with Hungary’s law on higher education.

“Laws apply to everybody, even to George Soros,” he added.

Regulating higher education falls within the scope of power of the state in Hungary, he said, adding that everybody had taken the amended law on higher education seriously, and that agreements had already been reached with other American institutions of higher education operating in Hungary.

Kósa said Fidesz would not participate in an extraordinary session of parliament initiated by the opposition to amend the law on higher education. This shows how things would work in Hungary if the Socialists were governing: George Soros could call a session of parliament and organise votes with his people on anything he wants, he added.

On the issue of migration, Kósa said it was clear that the pressure would increase in the summer. Now NGOs are partnering with smugglers to help the migrants under the guise of humanitarianism, he added. He noted that public opinion on the matter had shifted in Europe, and that the Italians had laid down stricter rules for NGOs than those in Hungary’s civil code.

Photo: MTI

Brussels wants to ratchet up tensions, says Hungarian government

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It appears that Brussels is intent on ratcheting up tensions with Hungary and is uninterested in finding a solution to differences between the European Commission and the country, a justice ministry official said in an interview published by news site Origo on Saturday.

Pál Völner, parliamentary state secretary of the Justice Ministry, said the government will send its response to the commission regarding the infringement procedures launched because of Hungary’s laws on NGOs financed from abroad and on foreign universities. The government objects to the requirement that it respond in the space of a month when in the past the normal practice was to reply within two months, he said.

Standpoints between the institution and Hungary are far apart, and, by shortening the timeframe, the commission wants to bring the matters before the court, he added.

Völner insisted that in respect of NGOs financed abroad, the commission had been unable to produce a convincing counterargument, while the Venice Commission had qualified the government’s measures as “completely legitimate”.

The state secretary complained that Hans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the commission, had already formed an opinion about the case before the translation of the Hungarian regulations had been made available. And whereas previously he had mentioned the matter of “the Soros university” (CEU) as a breach of the higher-education law, he now objects to related government measures on the ground that they violate the free movement of services, he added.

Völner said matters had been rectified, since the EU had admitted that higher-education regulations are a national competence, and this is what the Venice Commission established in its report.

He noted that attempts had been made in the European Parliament to tighten up rules governing the transparency of NGOs but they were withdrawn because of the disputes surrounding the Hungarian regulations.

Meanwhile, on the subject of Hungary’s lawsuit challenging the legality of the mandatory resettlement of migrants according to a quota system, Völner said a decision was expected in September. The government’s position is that the programme breaks EU law. If in the end the court rules that the decision of the majority of EU interior ministers is legally sound, then the infringement procedure will continue with an unpredictable outcome, he said.

Brussels’s ‘impotence’ on migration endangers Europeans, says Hungarian FM in EU meeting

Brussels’s “impotence” in dealing with Europe’s migration crisis is endangering the European people, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after meeting his European Union colleagues in Brussels on Monday.

“There is no time to lose in resolving Europe’s migration crisis,” Szijjártó said. The “lack of effective action” on the EU’s part even endangers those who make the trek across the Mediterranean and those who live in Europe “and don’t want to have to worry about more terror threats”, he added.

If the EU finally decides to undertake a mission to protect Libya’s southern border or strengthen its coast guard, the government is prepared to enter into immediate talks on Hungary’s contributions to such efforts, the minister said. The Visegrad Group countries share a common stance on this issue, he added.

Citing conservative estimates, Szijjártó said nearly 1,000 migrants cross Libya’s southern border each day in hopes of making it to Europe. Migrants cross the Mediterranean with the help of people smuggling rings, he said, adding that NGOs helping rescue migrants from sea are believed to have assisted these organisations on certain occasions.

He said tens of thousands of people are endangered at sea on a daily basis, adding that Italy no longer has the capacity or patience to take in any more migrants. The migration crisis has also hurt Europe’s security because of the increased threat of terrorism, Szijjártó added.

Hungary’s government proposes that the EU should first and foremost scrap its mandatory migrant quota scheme, Szijjártó said, arguing that it is “unfit” to handle the migration crisis and only “aggravates” the situation. Further, people smuggling networks should be broken up and the EU must prevent NGOs from helping people smugglers “regardless of whether or not this is their intention”. Finally, the EU should prevent boats carrying illegal migrants from leaving Libya’s shores or at the very least its waters, Szijjártó said.

Photo: MTI

Freedom House: The government of Hungary has resorted to tactics reminiscent of the darkest days of dictatorship

US-based human rights watchdog Freedom House on Friday slammed the Hungarian government’s nationwide billboard and television campaign concerning civil organisations saying that it was “vilifying” NGOs and refugees.

“The government of Hungary has resorted to tactics reminiscent of the darkest days of dictatorship in its vilification of refugees, and civil society organizations that advocate an orderly, humane policy of immigration,” Freedom House President Michael Abramowitz said in a statement.

“The imagery and language used by Prime Minister [Viktor] Orbán‘s government is deeply offensive and indeed anti-Semitic, especially its targeting of the Open Society Foundations and its Hungarian-born founder, George Soros,” Abramowitz added.

He said Soros’s organisation was working to secure fundamental freedoms for all Hungarians, including minorities. Abramowitz said it was inappropriate of the Hungarian government to concern itself with Soros’s political views.

“The government’s demonization of refugees and of civil society should offend all who value basic human rights and open, democratic societies,” the statement said.

Freedom House offical site said, Hungary is rated Free in Freedom in the World 2017, Partly Free in Freedom of the Press 2017, Free in Freedom on the Net 2016, and receives a democracy score of 3.54, on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 as the worst possible score, in Nations in Transit 2017.

Photo: MTI

European Commission launches infringement procedure against Hungary over NGO transparency law

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The European Commission has launched an infringement procedure against Hungary over the law on the transparency of foreign-funded NGOs.

The EC said it has sent Hungary a letter of formal notice on the matter, which officially launches the procedure.

Hungary now has one month to respond to the commission’s concerns.

The law requiring civil groups to register with a court as foreign-backed groups once their foreign donations reach 7.2 million forints (EUR 23,400) was passed by parliament last month. European Union funds do not count towards the threshold.

The EC said in a statement that the law “interferes unduly” with rights enshrined in the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, particularly the freedom of association. It also raises concerns regarding the protection of personal data, the EC said.

Further, the law applies “unjustified and disproportionate” restrictions to the free movement of capital through its requirements for NGOs to register and declare their registration as foreign-backed groups, the EC said. The body said these rules were discriminatory and “create an administrative and reputational burden” for civil groups.

The EC said the law could also prevent NGOs from being able to raise funds, thereby restricting their ability to carry out their work. The measures have a dissuasive effect on funding NGOs, the commission added.

“Civil society is the very fabric of our democratic societies and therefore should not be unduly restricted in its work. We have studied the new law on NGOs carefully and have come to the conclusion that it does not comply with EU law. We expect that the Hungarian government will engage in a dialogue to resolve this issue as soon as possible,” EC First Vice President Frans Timmermans said in the statement.

The EC also raised concerns over the requirement for NGOs to disclose the exact amount of donations they receive from individual donors along with the identities of their donors. The executive body said this stipulation does not strike a fair balance between the law’s aim to create transparent conditions among NGOs and donors and beneficiaries’ rights to privacy.

Under the law, civil groups that fail to disclose their source of foreign funding will be sent a notice by a public prosecutor calling on them to comply with their obligations. NGOs that fail to fulfil their obligations after a second notice are fined.

Hungary opposes mandatory redistribution of migrants

The Hungarian government supports stricter regulations against NGOs “taxiing” migrants across the sea to Europe but rejects EU plans on a mandatory redistribution of migrants aimed at easing the migration pressure on Italy, an interior ministry official said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the press, state secretary Károly Kontrát assessed a meeting of EU interior ministers in Tallinn on July 6 at which they discussed the latest developments in the migration crisis concerning the recently increased numbers of refugees arriving in Italy.

He said he had underlined at the meeting the Hungarian government’s position that the primary task for the EU was to stop the wave of migrants and to protect the bloc’s external borders.

Kontrát said the interior ministers hailed Italy’s call for resolute action towards more effectively regulating civil organisations involved in helping migrants at sea.

He said Hungary was the first EU member state to highlight the “immense role and responsibility” of foreign funded NGOs “operating non-transparently” in the rising migration pressure on Europe.

“These organisations would often entice migrants into breaking the laws; as they would also often collaborate with human smugglers,” said Kontrát. Through such action, these groups only deepen the migration crisis instead of easing it, with which they also pose national security risks, he said.

Kontrát said he had stressed in his address at the meeting the need for the EU to stop the flow of migrants overall and to take action to prevent the exodus of migrants from their home countries as well as prevent illegal migration through transit countries.

Photo: MTI/EPA

LMP turns to top court over NGO law

Daily News Hungary

The opposition LMP party has turned to the Constitutional Court with a submission requesting the nullification of the recently passed law on NGOs which requires civil groups to register themselves as foreign-financed organisations if they receive above 24,000 euros each year from abroad.

LMP lawmaker Akos Hadhazy told journalists before submitting the party’s request that the law did not promote transparency but rather “stamps certain organisations with an orange star”.

He insisted that the law failed to conform to the conditions of legal certainty because it does not clearly define “support from abroad”.

The law is also discriminative because it does not apply to any sport, political-party or church foundation, he said, adding that the law also threatens freedom of expression.

The LMP politician said possible sanctions contained in the law, such as dissolving NGOs, were “unjustified and unconstitutional”.

Socialist MEP has talks in Washington

Daily News Hungary

Socialist MEP István Ujhelyi met leading members of the Trump administration and members of the US Congress in Washington, DC, his Brussels office said in a statement on Thursday.

In his talks with leaders of the US National Tourism Office and members of Congress, Ujhelyi assured his negotiating partners that Hungary’s “next government”, to be led by the Socialist Party’s László Botka, would strengthen Hungary’s commitment to Western democracy, the statement said.

“[Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán and the Fidesz party’s illiberal Putinist rampage has brought Hungary’s transatlantic relations to an all-time low over the last few years,” the statement quoted Ujhelyi as saying. But the Botka government “will restore our country’s honour in the eyes of our allies”, he said.

Ujhelyi also vowed that a Socialist government would scrap “legislative measures that go against the principle of the rule of law and democratic values” such as the higher education amendment tightening regulations on foreign universities in Hungary and the law on the transparency of foreign-funded NGOs and would “keep Hungary in the EU’s mainstream”.

Ujhelyi also addressed the opening ceremony of a culture festival organised by the Smithsonian Institution.

As we wrote, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Gergely Gulyás met members of the US House of Representatives and leaders of civil organisations on the first day of a three-day visit to Washington, DC on Wednesday

Deputy Speaker of Hungarian Parliament Gulyás holds talks in Washington

Capitol Washington

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Gergely Gulyás met members of the US House of Representatives and leaders of civil organisations on the first day of a three-day visit to Washington, DC on Wednesday.

Aiming to discuss US-Hungarian relations and the challenges facing the EU and NATO “in as wide a circle as possible”, Gulyas held talks with Republican Congressmen Chris Smith of New Jersey, Dennis Ross of Florida and Steve King of Iowa as well as Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Ohio. He also met the deputy head of the Heritage Foundation, the head of the Family Research Council and representatives of other organisations.

Speaking to MTI by phone late on Wednesday local time, Gulyás said that a bipartisan delegation of the House of Representatives is to visit Hungary in autumn.

US-Hungarian cooperation is optimal in economic and security policy as well as on military issues, but diplomatic ties are “lagging sorely behind”, Gulyás said. The approach of the past eight years’ Democratic administration, which “placed ideological questions before practical matters and intruded unduly into the inner politics of many countries”, still holds sway over Washington’s foreign policy, Gulyás said.

The US Embassy in Hungary is “unfortunately a hurdle in establishing correct communication between the countries”, Gulyás said citing the embassy’s criticism of the Hungarian law on the transparency of foreign-funded NGOs.

The law, passed earlier this month, requires NGOs receiving foreign donations above a certain threshold to register as organisations funded from abroad.

Gulyás said the US’ criticism of the law had come in spite of the Hungarian government’s acceptance of parts of the Venice Commission’s report and prior coordination with the US embassy itself. The Hungarian law is now actually closer to US legislation on the issue than it had been before, Gulyás insisted.

Migration is another issue where the Hungarian standpoint is very close to that of the current US president, Gulyás said.

Gulyás said his visit was marked by openness towards an agreement with Hungarian politics. “The negative media coverage notwithstanding, many realise that these articles do not tell the truth”, he said.

US State Department expresses concern over law on foreign-funded NGOs – UPDATE

The US State Department expressed concern over legislation Hungary’s parliament recently adopted on foreign-funded NGOs, in a statement released on its website.

The statement concerns the law the national assembly passed last Tuesday requiring civil groups receiving foreign donations above a threshold of 7.2 million forints (EUR 23,400) per year to register with a court as organisations funded from abroad.

Hungary’s president signed the law on June 16.

In a statement issued on Monday, the State Department said the new law “unfairly burdens and targets Hungarian civil society, which is working to fight corruption and protect civil liberties”.

“By portraying groups supported with foreign funding as acting against the interests of Hungarian society, this legislation would weaken the ability of Hungarians to organize and address concerns in a legitimate and democratic manner,” said the statement.

The State Department gave warning that the legislation would qualify as “another step away from Hungary’s commitments to uphold the principles and values that are central to the EU and NATO”.

The government spokesman’s office responded to the statement saying that “Soros organisations would never be allowed to do in the US what they do in Europe.” The US State Department’s statement is “yet another striking example of the double standards” being applied to Hungary, the office said in a statement, arguing that the US has “far stricter” rules in place for organisations receiving support from abroad.

The office said that ever since the legislation on foreign-funded NGOs was first proposed, the international media had been waging a “deceitful disinformation campaign” about the law “in effective collaboration with the Soros organisations”. It added that it “regrets to see that even the US State Department has also been deceived”.

The office said that if the State Department had a “credible picture” of the law, it would see that it had been modelled on the US’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) but “is far more lenient”. Under FARA, organisations in the US financed from abroad have had to register themselves since 1938, the office said.

The Hungarian law “in no way threatens” the operations of civil organisations or the right of association, the office insisted. Its only novelty is that foreign donations to civil groups need to be made transparent, just as it is required in the US, the spokesman’s office added.

The law aims to shine a spotlight on organisations “using foreign money and acting in favour of foreign interests” to try to influence Hungarian public life and Hungary’s migration policy, the statement said.

It was the second statement from US State Department, read here the first statement: US GOVERNMENT EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER HUNGARY’S FOREIGN-FUNDED NGO TRANSPARENCY LAW

Justice ministry: Venice Commission criticism “baffling” after Hungary cooperation

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Criticism of Hungary by the Venice Commission after acceptance of its proposals regarding the law on the transparency of foreign-funded NGOs is “baffling”, the justice ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Hungary cooperated extensively with the Council of Europe body before the law was passed and timed the parliamentary vote on the bill so that its preliminary opinion could be taken into consideration, the statement said. Parliament subsequently accepted three of the five proposals in the preliminary opinion, it said.

The ministry called it “prejudiced” that in the press release on the VC’s web site the commission announced it would soon send a delegation to Hungary to review the amendment of the higher education law “sanctioning the closing of the university founded by George Soros”. The press release said the delegation would prepare another opinion on this law.

The Venice Commission, the CoE’s legal advisory body, adopted an opinion on the Hungarian law on the transparency of foreign-funded NGOS on Friday. The law passed this week only partly satisfies the preliminary opinion’s main recommendations, the commission said.

It acknowledged that the aim of ensuring transparency of NGOs in order to prevent undue foreign political influence, money laundering and terrorism-financing was legitimate in principle.

“However, the commission stressed that this legitimate aim may not be used to stigmatise NGOs or restrict their ability to carry out their activities. This effect would go beyond the legitimate aim of transparency,” according to the opinion.

Civil groups stage anti-government demonstration in central Budapest

Some 300 people gathered in central Budapest to protest against government policies on Sunday evening.

Márta Pardavi, co-leader of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, said that “people of morals must take responsibility for society” and added that her organisation would boycott the recent law requiring registration of groups receiving foreign assistance. She said the Committee was ready to prove in court that the government’s “system of national cooperation” was illegitimate.

Political Scientist Gábor Vágó said that civil society should “recapture public life” before next year’s election, and “reorganise society along actual goals rather than along ideologies”. He insisted that civil candidates should be fielded in all 106 individual constituencies.

Photo: MTI

Venice Commission: Hungarian law on foreign-funded NGOs still raises concerns

Daily News Hungary

The Hungarian law on foreign-funded NGOs, despite amendments, still raises concerns, the Venice Commission said in an opinion published on Friday.

The Council of Europe’s advisory body, composed of independent experts in constitutional law, said that it had adopted an opinion clarifying its preliminary opinion. The law, passed this week, only partly satisfies the preliminary opinion’s main recommendations, the Venice Commission said.

The Commission again acknowledged that the aim of ensuring transparency of civil society organisations in order to prevent undue foreign political influence, money laundering and terrorism-financing is, in principle, legitimate.

“However, the commission stressed that this legitimate aim may not be used to stigmatise NGOs or restrict their ability to carry out their activities. This effect would go beyond the legitimate aim of transparency,” the opinion showed.

“The Venice Commission praised the removal of provision in the law for the automatic sanction of “dissolution” for non-respect by an association of obligations imposed by the law, notably the failure to report foreign funding beyond a certain annual threshold,” it added.

The revised opinion showed that the broad exceptions to the application of the law, notably the recently added exception for national minorities organisations, coupled with the negative rhetoric that continues to surround this matter, cast a doubt on the genuine aim pursued by the law.

It added that the obligation to mention foreign-funding on all press products of an NGO has been maintained, which is clearly disproportionate and unnecessary in a democratic society.

“The commission also regretted that no public consultations were held prior to the final adoption of the law,” it said.

“For these reasons, the Venice Commission found that the amendments adopted by parliament on 13 June are not sufficient to alleviate the concerns that the law causes disproportionate and unnecessary interference with freedom of expression and association, the right to privacy and freedom from discrimination”, the revised opinion showed.

The Venice Commission said on its website that the final version of the revised preliminary opinion will be made available on Monday 19 June.

In addition, it said that a delegation of the Venice Commission will visit the Central European University, NGOs and government officials in Hungary to prepare an opinion on another Hungarian law that could close the George Soros-founded university in October.

Hungarian president signs the criticized civil organisations law

Daily News Hungary

President Janos Ader signed Hungary’s new law concerning transparency of civil organisations receiving foreign support, on Friday.

“I cannot see any legal or constitutional concerns that should hinder publication of the law,” the president said, adding that the law would not affect the operations of the organisations it is to govern.

In a statement, the president referred to civil organisations as “indispensable and respectable” players of a democracy and noted their activities ranging from promoting human rights through environmental protection to welfare services. He said that Hungary had over 56,000 civil organisations and insisted that 99 percent of them would be left unaffected by the new legislation.

The new law will only stipulate further administrative tasks on organisations receiving over 7.2 million forints (EUR 23,400) per year from abroad, while their earlier activities would be left unchanged, Áder said.

The civil organisations law was critized by US government, German foreign minister and many other civil organisations.