Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that the possibility must be created for the Hungarian public to find out about every participant in public life: their identity and where they receive funding from.
On Kossuth Rádió’s “180 Minutes”, the Prime Minister responded to a question on civil society organisations by saying that, in the world we live in, attempts at influencing other states is common in every country and is practised by almost every country.
As an example of this he cited the fact that during Barack Obama’s presidency the Americans developed a number of methods for political interference across the world. “I could speak about this at length […] recently we have seen everything here – including the crudest methods of interference”. However, he added that as the two countries are allies he will not focus on the past, but he instead hopes that no such attempts will be made in the future.
The Prime Minister believes it to be a top priority to create the possibility for every Hungarian citizen to find out about every participant in public life. This involves knowing who they are and where they receive their funding from – whether from abroad or from within Hungary. If they receive funding from abroad, it should be made clear whether they are required to fulfil any requirements in return.
Mr. Orbán said that there is a desire for transparency, as Hungarians have the right to understand “the context of attempts at political interference within which we live our daily political life”.
Regarding US president-elect Donald Trump, who will enter office within a few days, the Prime Minister said that a different US leadership culture is about to move centre stage. While the departing Obama administration was “globalist”, he said, the forthcoming one will not be, but will pursue “more forthright American policy”, which does not beat about the bush and does not complicate matters. He added that the Europeans will also have to adapt to this new attitude and system of relations.
Answering a question about a future visit to the US, he said that as yet there are no specific details on this.