In contrast to the accusations, the tightening of Hungarian regulations regarding non-governmental organisations that are funded from abroad is not bad for democracy”, Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács stressed in a letter to the editor published on the Politico website.
The Government Spokesperson responded to an article published in the Brussels news portal on Tuesday, according to which operating an independent non-governmental organisation (NGO) counts as a “hazardous activity’ in Hungary.
The author of the article, an analyst at the Open Society European Policy Institute, is making the arrogant assumption that “without them and their ideologically driven Soros-funded organisations, civil society would cease to exist”, he pointed out.
“But civil society is not equal to the Open Society network of NGOs. Civil society in Hungary, which comprises more than 60,000 NGOs, is much more than that, and it’s doing just fine without the Soros-funded groups”, the Government Spokesperson said.
“As a country on the frontier of the EU, Hungary considers migration a matter of national security, and we take seriously our obligation to protect that border. We believe that foreign-funded groups active in this sensitive area should be subject to tighter rules and greater transparency. To paint this as a set of draconian laws that will result in police raids on law-abiding organizations is a wilful distortion of the facts”, Mr. Kovács writes.
“For the past two years, the United States has been consumed by the controversy that a foreign power may have intervened in its election. It’s stunning then that some are shocked that countries - and Hungary is not alone in this - are imposing stricter regulations on groups that survive almost entirely on foreign funding to carry out activities that are often blatantly partisan and drive an agenda that seeks to influence political outcomes”, he explained.
In closing, Mr. Kovács underlined that in contrast to the claims made by the author, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s vision of democracy is rooted in a clear and cohesive idea: 21st century Christian democracy. This may be at odds with the of the Open Society world view, but unlike theirs, our vision enjoys broad popular support from our voters.