Hungary’s right-wing populist government has passed the law to counter the alleged rise of undue political interference by foreign individuals or groups.
Independent media and rights groups on Wednesday condemned legislation passed by Hungary’s right-wing populist government that will allow authorities to investigate and prosecute people accused of undermining the country’s sovereignty.
The coalition government, made up of the Fidesz and KDNP parties, passed the ‘Sovereignty Protection Act’ on Tuesday. It calls for the creation of a new government agency with the power to collect information on any group or individual that benefits from foreign funding and influences public debate.
The measure requires Hungary’s secret services to assist the authority in its investigations and allows for prison sentences of up to three years for anyone convicted of violating the new law.
Opponents of the legislation have compared it to Russia’s ‘foreign agent’ law, saying its broad language could be used to arbitrarily target government critics. The country’s right-wing prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has long been accused of taking over most of Hungary’s media and building an autocratic political system that undermines democratic norms.
Representatives of 10 independent news outlets signed an open letter condemning the law, saying the Hungarian government had unfairly accused them of “serving foreign interests”.
“This is a deliberate lie that defames not only the newsrooms that do vital work for democracy, but also the Hungarians who watch, listen and read their content,” the outlets wrote, adding that independent newsrooms in Hungary are transparent and do not benefit from “hidden funds or subsidies”.
The Hungarian government argues that the law is aimed at preventing political parties from receiving foreign funding for election campaigns, as a coalition of six opposition parties allegedly did ahead of the 2022 general election, which saw Orbán handily win a fourth consecutive term in office.
In November, Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, urged the Hungarian government to withdraw the bill, saying it “poses a significant risk to human rights and should be abandoned”.
If passed, Mijatovic wrote at the time, it would give the Hungarian government “even more opportunities to silence and stigmatise independent voices and opponents”.
A group of Hungarian NGOs also condemned the law in a letter signed by seven rights groups, including Amnesty International, Transparency International and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union.
The groups called the legislation ‘nothing more than a political propaganda project based on secret service methods’ and accused it of violating Hungary’s constitutional, international and EU obligations. They vowed to take legal action against the law and to “provide support and assistance to the affected civil communities, activists and media actors”.