'Semi-Consolidated Democracy': Freedom House Downgrades Hungary

On 13 February 2018, the Hungarian government introduced in Parliament the ‘Stop Soros’ package, a legislative proposal of three bills that target civil society organisations working on migration.

● Bill T/1976 on the licensing of organisations supporting migration;

● Bill T/19775 on the immigration financing duty;

● Bill T/19774 on the immigration restraint order.

On 13 June 2017, the Hungarian National Assembly (Parliament) adopted the Act LXXVI of 2017 on the Transparency of Organisations Supported from Abroad (hereinafter: the Law). It obliges associations and foundations that receives at least 7.2 million HUF annually from foreign source to register with the court as an organization receiving foreign funding, to annually report about their foreign funding, and to indicate the label “organization receiving foreign funding” on their website and publications. The list of foreign funded NGOs is also published on a government website. 

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