These critics, writes Kovács, make the same mistake. They claim that without them and their ideologically driven Soros-funded organizations, civil society ceases to exist
Pál Völner, ministry of Justice’s Parliamentary State Secretary, said the government had responded to the commission in writing stating that the Hungarian legislation does not contravene either EU or international...
Hungary's responses have had to be delivered in an unreasonably short deadline in the case of three particularly important infringement procedures: mandatory resettlement quota, the transparency of civil organizations and...
Pál Völner said that the government presented its case that the restrictions imposed by the laws in question are necessary and proportionate
A number of Soros-funded NGOs in Hungary have declared that they will not comply with the new NGO law and will instead boycott out of civil disobedience. There’s nothing valiant in their cause, just hypocrisy. The fact that the same NGOs have no problem abiding by even stricter rules and regulations in Germany, Austria, Israel, and the US speaks for itself.
The EC said it has sent Hungary a letter of formal notice, which officially launches the procedure
Recently I responded to a EURACTIV.com interview with Heather Grabbe, the director of the George Soros-funded European Policy Institute, pushing back on claims that Hungary’s new NGO law discriminates and is closing the space for dissenting opinions.
Friends in North America have commented recently on Hungary’s new NGO law. In a tweet sent on the day of the law’s passage, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland called it “disappointing news” and reminded us that Canada “values transparency & civil society as key facets of healthy democratic societies.”
PM Orbán insisted that “record high” participation in the government’s latest nationwide public survey means that “a whole nation is looking for ways to support its position of denying entry to people of a different culture or civilization”
The president referred to civil organizations as “indispensable and respectable” players of a democracy. He said that Hungary had over 56,000 civil organizations and insisted that 99 percent of them would be left unaffected by the new legislation
Under the new law organizations are required to state that they qualify as organizations funded from abroad on their official website and publications
The Venice Commission does not doubt the legitimacy of the bill and had acknowledged that creating a transparent state of affairs concerning NGOs funded from abroad was a legitimate objective for parliament
The draft law “pursues the legitimate aim of ensuring transparency of civil society organisations”.