Hungary delays vote on “transparency law”

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party has put further parliamentary debate and a vote about its contentious “transparency law” on hold until the autumn. The controversial draft legislation, intended to curb foreign funding of media organisations and NGOs whose activities are deemed a threat to Hungary’s sovereignty, triggered street protests and stoked outrage among rights groups as well as a salvo of warnings from the European Commission and the Council of Europe, which just last month called for its withdrawal. 

In May, a parliamentary member of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán‘s party filed a draft law entitled “Transparency in Public Life” that would allow the government to monitor, restrict, penalise and ban media outlets and NGOs it deems a threat to the country’s sovereignty. Originally set to be voted on in mid-June, the bill was expected to pass without difficulty given that the Fidesz party holds a two-thirds majority.  Critics have compared the proposed legislation to Russia’s “foreign agent“ law. 

Now, according to Fidesz MP Máté Kocsis, the party is debating which “legal instruments must be used to protect sovereignty“ under the legislation. The draft has been the subject of multiple proposals and comments in recent weeks from the likes of the Hungarian Banking Association, the Hungarian Advertising Association, the Office of the President of the Republic, the Hungarian Bar Association and the Hungarian Association of Newspaper Publishers, Kocsis acknowledged. “No decision will be made on the matter before the summer. Parliament will not vote on it”, he declared. 

Under Orbán’s leadership, Hungary has enacted crackdowns on NGOs and independent media, introducing legislation that critics maintain is designed to target and hinder groups that serve to protect women and minorities, that offer legal and human rights assistance, and expose official corruption. These actions grew in 2023 when the right-wing Orbán government tasked the newly launched Sovereignty Protection Office with investigating organisations and media outlets it deems to be exerting foreign influence.

With polls suggesting Orbán faces his biggest challenge yet in next year’s elections, the Hungarian leader contends that foreign interests — notably those originating in the US and in Ukraine — are bent on toppling him from power with the help of independent media outlets and anti-corruption watchdogs in Hungary. Such organisations have rejected his  claims, maintaining that their work is conducted to professional standards and is in the public interest.

The bill introduced last month offers a broad definition of what constitutes a threat to sovereignty. Organisations opposing or negatively portraying values like Hungary’s democratic character, national unity, traditional family structures, or Christian culture could be deemed liable. Accordingly, critics suggest that this means legitimate criticism of government policy could be treated as a national security threat.