WorthyNews: Hungary Postpones ‘Russian-Style Foreign Agent Law’

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By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungary’s ruling party has delayed a planned vote on Russian-style legislation that would fine and potentially ban foreign-funded media and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) deemed a “threat” to Hungarian sovereignty and culture.

Wednesday’s announced decision followed weeks of protests, including Tuesday in Budapest and the European Union’s threat to remove Hungary’s voting rights through a so-called Article 7 procedure.

Additionally, 90 editors-in-chief and publishers from across Europe, including newspapers The Guardian in Britain, Libération in France, and Gazeta Wyborcza in Poland, urged the EU to take action.

They expressed concern about the so-called “Transparency Law” that critics compared to similar “foreign agent” legislation in autocratically ruled Russia.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s right-wing nationalist party, Fidesz, introduced a law last month allowing the government to monitor, penalize, and potentially ban organizations that receive foreign funding, including donations or EU grants.

Any organization could be targeted if it was deemed to “threaten the sovereignty of Hungary by using foreign funding to influence public life.”

BROAD VIEW

Experts say the law takes a broad view of what constitutes a threat, describing it as acts undermining Hungary’s constitutional identity or Christian culture or challenging the primacy of marriage, the family, and biological sexes.

Zoltán Kovács, a spokesperson for the Hungarian government, had said the bill had been introduced amid worries that foreign-funded organizations, primarily from the U.S. and Brussels, were shaping the country’s political discourse.

The parliamentary vote on it had been expected to take place in mid-June. Despite critics likening the legislation to Russia’s “foreign agent” law, it was forecast to be passed by parliament as Fidesz holds a two-thirds majority.

But on Wednesday, Fidesz’ parliamentary party leader, Mâté Kocsis, told local media that the vote would be postponed until autumn as the government had received several suggestions regarding the law. “We are united in our intentions, but there is still debate about the means,” he added on social media.

Sources said several key ministers oppose the law, fearing a public backlash and EU retaliation via suspending Hungary’s voting rights.

“There seems to be a division between technocrats, moderates, and hardliners,” noted Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi.

CRACKDOWN FEARED

Orbáb, in power since 2010, pledged in March to crack down on foreign funding of independent media, opposition politicians, and NGOs, whom he described as bugs needing a spring cleaning.

Critics view the measures as part of a move to strengthen his position ahead of the 2026 elections when he faces an unprecedented challenge from a new opposition party, the Tisza, named after Hungary’s second-largest river.

Tisza leader Péter Magyar, a former Fidesz insider, said the postponement of the law would enable the government to “squeeze even more” out of the proposed bill and “further divert attention from … the livelihood and housing crisis, Orbán’s galloping inflation and the destruction of education.”

Rights activists celebrated the delay, with Amnesty International calling it a “huge joint success.”

“Of course, we can only rest easy once this unlawful bill has been scrapped for good,” the group said on social media. “Unfortunately, one thing is certain: the government will not give up its attempts to silence independent voices, as has been its goal since 2010.”

The government denies these allegations.

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