Why is the Hungarian Government Waging a War on Civil Society?

As the Hungarian government strengthens its relationship with Putin, it has simultaneously launched a war against civil society, one of last free and critical voices left in Hungary.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has much to learn from President Putin about political repression, but he is on the right track. During his first term, he introduced the System of National Cooperation, pushing through constitutional changes which weakened the checks and balances of democracy, and taking institutional corruption to an unprecedented level. He brought independent institutions and most media outlets under direct government control, and changed the election system in favour of the ruling Fidesz party. Apart from the weakness of the opposition, these changes made a significant contribution to his party’s landslide victory at the April elections.

It appears that the next target of the ruling elite is independent, critical, civil society. As in Russia, pro-government commentators have launched a smear campaign against critical NGOs funded by international donors. They accuse us of being the agents of foreign powers. Political dissent is often condemned as unpatriotic, with a government press release labelling any criticism “an attack against Hungary”, “financed by George Soros”.

This rhetorical offensive has been followed up by administrative harassment, with the government trying to cut off independent NGOs from their international funding. Aside from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the NGO Fund operated by the EEA and Norway Grants irritates Orban’s government the most. The EEA and Norway Grants represent the financial contribution of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein towards reducing economic and social disparities in the European Economic Area (EEA). The Norwegian government suspended payments from these grants in May 2014, following a Hungarian breach of the agreements concerning the implementation and monitoring of the Grants schemes. They did not suspend the NGO Fund though, which is operated by an independent NGO consortium, not the government.

more: liberties.eu