Non-Actionable NGOs

There are around 60 thousand NGOs active in Hungary, with an average annual income of 49 million Hungarian forints per organization.

US-IMF-WORLDBANK-ECONOMY-FINANCE Fotó: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI

It must have been hot in Strasbourg, too... so let's attribute the recent decision taken by the European Parliament in part to the weather. Although everyone is equal before the law – this message is written out in large letters in Italian courtrooms – MEPs who are endlessly concerned about the rule of law on 364 days of the year have now exempted a well-defined circle from the harshness of the law. There is no final legislation yet – because member states will also have their say – but as it stands, the EU can limit or even eliminate the ability to sue investigative journalists and "civil" society, the so-called non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The proposal's proponents argue that the right of NGOs to participate in public life is stronger than the right of any member of society to sue them, Fidesz MEP Erno Schaller-Baross told the Hungarian Mandiner portal. The European Commission, which came forward with the draft legislation, would plant an American model into practice. The move that allowed legal action against so-called SLAPPs (an acronym that stands for 'strategic lawsuits against public participation') was introduced decades ago, overseas. It encompassed cases, for example, when a corporation, a government or some wealthy individual would file lawsuits against investigative journalists to bury them in legal costs and obstruct their work.

Figures from Hungary's Central Statistical Office (KSH) show that there are around 60 thousand NGOs active in Hungary, with an average annual income of 49 million Hungarian forints per organization.

However, in media reports on public life, we typically come across the names of a dozen NGOs that are striving to transform social and political relations - be it migrants or sexual minorities - from subsidies coming from abroad and not from Hungarian taxpayers. According to a report published on its website, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, often a vocal critic of Hungary's public administration, garnered an income of  825 million forints last year, which is 17 times the budget of an average Hungarian NGO. However, domestic donations and personal income tax donations [Hungarians can donate 1 percent of their income tax to an NGO] amounted to only HUF 40 million, i.e. only twenty Hungarian forints per citizen based on the two million votes the Dollar Left had secured in the 2022 elections. The big money comes from organizations such as the European Commission (HUF 122 million), George Soros's Open Society Foundations (HUF 99 million) or the American National Endowment for Democracy (NED), also playing a role in financing opposition circles in Hungary. Brussels' proposal highlights the "cross-border implications" of cases in relation to NGOs, and the above list suggests that a local women's choir giving a performance in their twin village across the border is not such a case. The EU proposal is about extending protection to global interest groups and their cronies allegedly threatened by SLAPPs. As Magyar Nemzet has already pointed out, for example, the Action for Democracy, with boasts active links to NED, is now preparing for a battle in Warsaw to influence the upcoming Polish elections from the outside – in the name of civil society and to the right wing's detriment.

A mayor from Fidesz filed a lawsuit against an investigative portal called Atlatszo in the spring, but the whistle-blower has since won a final court ruling. It appears that we do have independent courts. It serves neither Hungarian, nor European interests – only perhaps those of global interest groups –to shield from legal action the wealthy NGOs, these foreign-funded mercenaries bolstered by a battalion of lawyers that are bent on transforming our public life. A few years ago, influential circles first had Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, and then Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak killed. In both countries, the assassinations have led to the demise of the left-wing (!) governments in office at the time. If Europe wants to protect its 'watchdogs' that monitor and scrutinize governments, she can do so by improving conditions in public life, not by eradicating the equality of rights.

Cover photo: George Soros (Photo: AFP)