zecsaky.bsky.social
Senior research fellow CER @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social. Mostly EU stuff, sprinkled with some democracy & Central Europe. Past lives Freedom House, EUI, Bloomberg.
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Now, this is still a draft. But it’s very clear its vague & overly broad language would result in massive chilling effect, impacting everyone from NGOs to media and potentially private organizations. And it's submitted ahead of Hungary's 2026 elections www.parlament.hu/irom42/11923...
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If a listed organization receives funding that’s not cleared by the anti-money laundering agency, it faces a fine of 25x the value. If it fails to pay the fine, it can be barred from influencing public discourse. If its leaders fail to submit declarations, the organization can be banned.
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Additionally, anyone donating to such organizations need to provide a formal declaration that the funding doesn’t come from abroad. Essentially then, listed organizations could be stripped from foreign AND domestic funds.
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What happens to listed organizations? They can’t receive donations under the 1% tax scheme, can’t take foreign money unless cleared by the anti-money laundering agency & their leaders need to submit asset declarations.
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What is threat to 🇭🇺 sovereignty? The bar is very low, it also includes “portraying in a negative light”
• Hungary’s democracy & rule of law
• National unity & belonging
• Primacy of marriage, family & biological sex
• Peace, security & internat’al cooperation
• Const’al identity, Christian culture
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First, what counts as foreign funding? The draft law is very broad: it includes support coming from a foreign entity or foreign citizen, incl Hungarian dual citizens. In theory, this could mean an NGO winning an EU grant or a media outlet receiving $1 super thanks on YT.
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OK, let’s look at the details -- they provide a playbook for any aspiring autocrat. Organizations receiving foreign funding can be listed, penalized, and potentially banned if they “influence” public discourse & the Sovereignty Protection office deems they threaten Hungary’s sovereignty. 🧵
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The rule of law has not featured strongly in either campaign so far, which is rather surprising given that Romania struggles to overcome its legacy challenges with the judiciary and corruption and in Poland, the fate of the rule of law restoration process hangs on a single thread—this election.
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Well, Romanian polling has been quite all over the place -- even if it shows some gains for Dan recently, see here. Not wishing for any role for the court though! www.romaniatv.net/mirel-palada...
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Btw, this is an excellent article by @paulaerizanu.bsky.social from earlier about the reasons behind the high diaspora vote for the far right in Romania. www.newstatesman.com/world/europe...
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For those of you who aren't afraid of too much Latin in their legal writing, the draft law and explanations are available here: 17/
www.gov.pl/web/justice/...
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(The title is just being provocative, obv.)
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Some of its worst features were watered down, thankfully, but it gives ample opportunities to government and government-connected actors to destroy particularly smaller organizations, e.g. by flooding them by BS information requests. My latest in
@euobserver.com euobserver.com/eu-and-the-w...
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Better understanding (and reporting) of what's at stake in today's Politico playbook.