Orbán’s Fidesz party proposes Russia-style crackdown on Hungary’s civil society

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party submitted a controversial bill to parliament Wednesday in what critics see as an attack on civil society.

The bill, entitled On the Transparency of Public Life, would allow the Sovereignty Protection Office to blacklist organizations receiving foreign funding, including from EU grants, if it deems them a “threat” to national sovereignty.

The Sovereignty Protection Office is a government authority established in December 2023 with the power to investigate any groups or individual recipients of foreign funding.

The proposed bill is part of a broader pattern of democratic backsliding in Hungary, where Orbán’s government has increasingly targeted independent institutions and dissenting voices. It also echoes Russia’s “foreign agent” law that the Kremlin uses to suppress NGOs and independent voices.

Groups placed on the Hungarian government’s list would lose access to donations from a 1 percent income tax on citizens, and be required to prove that all funding is domestic. Leaders of these organizations would also face strict disclosure rules including mandatory asset declarations.

The bill as well allows authorities to conduct intrusive inspections, seize documents and devices, and impose severe fines — up to 25 times the amount of any foreign funding received, to be paid within 15 days.

The bill says threats to national sovereignty include influencing public opinion, promoting democratic debate, or challenging state-defined values like Christian culture and traditional family roles.

Fidesz lawmaker János Halász justified the bill by saying that in recent years, “abuses that seriously violate Hungary’s sovereignty” had been exposed.

In an fiery speech on March 15, Orbán vowed to crack down on a “shadow army” of political opponents, journalists, judges and activists in the country, whom he said were working for foreign powers. He compared his political opponents to “insects” that deserved “shame and contempt,” and hinted at a coming “spring cleaning.”