Opposition parties protest civil organisations bill

Budapest, April 8 (MTI) – Opposition parties on Saturday protested a bill submitted to parliament by MPs of governing Fidesz that would require civil organisations to disclose foreign funding.

The government has “pulled a new card from the pack of Russian President Vladimir Putin” with the submission of the bill, Gergely Arató, a politician with the leftist opposition party Democratic Coalition (DK) said at a press conference on Saturday. The proposed legislation would stigmatise civil organisations, damaging their credibility and making them out to be foreign spies, he said. This was last a common practice under the dictatorship in the 1950s, he added.

The government’s steps are unfounded, because civil organisations operate in a more transparent manner than the government, he said. The government’s reasoning that the proposed legislation is necessary to prevent money laundering and terrorism is misleading, he added.

With this measure, the government wants to counter European Union values and move Hungary closer in the direction of Putin’s Russia, waging war against its own citizens and preventing people from speaking out, Arató said.

Green opposition party LMP called on the government to withdraw the bill at a press conference on Saturday. Party co-leader Bernadett Szél said the bill is a “provocation” and “totally absurd”.