Budapest (AFP) – The Hungarian parliament’s vote on a planned law to regulate “foreign-funded” media and non-governmental organizations will be postponed until the autumn, according to the right-wing nationalist ruling party Fidesz. “The debates on this bill will continue in the fall,” the Fidesz parliamentary group told the AFP news agency on Wednesday. The announcement comes after sharp criticism of the proposed law, with a parliamentary vote originally planned for next week.
The planned law would empower the Hungarian government to blacklist organisations if they “endanger the sovereignty of Hungary by influencing public life with foreign funds”. According to the draft law, organizations on this blacklist would then need a permit to receive money from abroad. They would also be excluded from the possibility of receiving a levy of one percent of income tax from Hungarian taxpayers. These payments are an important source of income for non-profit organisations in Hungary.
The Hungarian opposition accuses the government of wanting to use the law to curb opponents of the government, following the example of Russia. The EU Commission, which has been in conflict with the right-wing nationalist government in Budapest for years, had called on it to withdraw the draft law – and threatened to take the “necessary steps” if it did not.
Several thousand people demonstrated against the planned law in Hungary during the weekend.
Source: AFP.
