TIMELINE – Attacks on civil society since January 2025

 

The following timeline has been compiled by Civilizacio Collective, to which we’re very grateful.

January

  • 17 January In a radio interview, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that pushing out the ‘Soros empire’
    from Europe and Hungary is his primary foreign policy goal, since ‘foreign networks […]
    threaten Hungarian sovereignty’.

February

  • 5 February Viktor Orbán posted the following on X: ‘So apparently USAID financed ultra-progressive Politico in Brussels and basically the entire left-wing media in Hungary under the previous US administration. And they called me “disruptor of the year”… I think the world owes a debt of gratitude to President @realDonaldTrump for uncovering and putting an end to this dark conspiracy.’
  • 7 February In a radio interview, Viktor Orbán openly called for action against foreign-funded organisations.He emphasised that accepting foreign funding should be sanctioned, and the existence ofb‘international networks’ must be legally prohibited.
  • 13 February The Sovereignty Protection Office (SPO) issued a communication urging further legal actions against certain CSOs (in the communication being referred to as ‘advocacy organisations’). These measures aim to regulate advocacy organisations by
    ● distinguishing them from other civil society groups,
    ● subjecting them to strict rules similar to political parties,
    ● banning foreign funding entirely,
    ● closing ‘loopholes’ that allow foreign influence, and
    ● ensuring the enforceability of these regulations.
    The SPO also stated that it was working on proposals to take action against ‘foreign-funded organisations of public life’.
  • 18 February Viktor Orbán posted the following on X: ‘WARNING! Our fears have come true: the globalist- liberal-Soros NGO network is fleeing to Brussels, after President Trump dealt a huge blow to their activities in the US. Now 63 of them are asking Brussels for money, under the guise of various human rights projects. Not going to happen! We will not let them find safe haven in Europe! The USAID-files exposed the dark practices of the globalist network. We will not take the bait again!’
  • 18-19 February At a political group meeting, Orbán urged government representatives to introduce strict laws to ban actors from Hungary who accepted funding from the ‘corruption network of Soros and the Democrats.’ At the meeting, Orbán also welcomed Donald Trump’s second presidency and the Trump administration’s decision to freeze funds for USAID, saying, ‘The Soros network has lost Washington, the new government has started to dismantle the network’.
  • 19 February Máté Kocsis, leader of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party faction, announced that the Fidesz parliamentary group has requested the government to appoint a government commissioner to investigate who has received U.S. financial support to ‘overthrow’ the Hungarian government over the past decade. Kocsis also highlighted that they seek further information about the CSOs that have received funding from the United States.
  • 21 February Tamás Lánczi, president of the SPO, stated in a radio interview that the proposal about distinguishing ‘advocacy groups’ from ‘genuine CSOs’ has been submitted to the legislator. He also said that ‘There is a grey area that has already crossed the threshold of politics but has not yet reached that of intelligence services.’ He added that the USAID scandal in the United States has given new momentum to efforts to uncover lobbying networks of these organisations.
  • 22 February In his annual state of the nation, Orbán repeated the plan to send a government commissioner to the United States and stated that the government would ‘create the constitutional and legal conditions’ to impede ‘disguised civil society organisations’ from ‘serving foreign interests and organizing political actions’. According to Orbán, the new legal changes would allow the government to circumvent the ‘impunity’ of CSOs, guaranteed by international protection. In the speech, he called for a new law, modeled after the Magnitsky Act of the United States. With reference to CSOs, he added that ‘the empire's Budapest warehouse could be finished by Easter’.
  • 23 February In a radio interview, Máté Kocsis said that Hungarian journalists and activists had influenced public life ‘in the interests of a foreign state or a capitalist, speculative corporate group’. He added: ‘This is what political corruption really is.’ He mentioned that the spring session of parliament will primarily focus on related legislation, with a law similar to the US Magnitsky Act being proposed and emphasised that ‘everything must be coupled with an amendment to the Criminal Code’.
  • 24 February Viktor Orbán stated at the opening session of parliament that ‘The corruption network that rules the entire Western world of politics and media must be eliminated,’ and that the government would ‘go to the wall’ with the new laws.
  • 27 February Hungary’s USAID Government Commissioner in U.S. to Uncover Hungarian Part of Corruption Network (Fidesz Member of the European Parliament András László) was appointed.
  • 27 February Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister's Office, announced at a government press briefing that the person appointed for the role of the commissioner to investigate USAID’s foreign funding programs involving Hungary was András László. His tasks, according to Gulyás, include reaching out to U.S. party organisations and compiling a report which identifies USAID funding recipients in Hungary. Gulyás also said that the ruling parliamentary groups will submit legislative and possibly even constitutional amendment proposals to combat foreign interference in public affairs. According to Gulyás, this was to be expected within weeks.
  • 28 February Máté Kocsis stated in a podcast that the powers of the Sovereignty Protection Office should be expanded. He also hinted that leaders of organisations that have received questionable funding from the United States or the European Commission would be required to submit asset declarations. About NGO leaders he asked: ‘Who are they, how much money have they received, what assets have they acquired, what do they own, what funds do they operate from, and how do they finance their protests?’ He added that banks could even be legally obligated to monitor the financial transactions of the organisations in question.

March

  • 2 March The recently appointed government commissioner András László said in a radio interview that his job involves mapping a very complex system with many foundations and cross- subsidies. He also referred to the secretary of state of the United States who allegedly claimed that USAID used to support Marxist projects worldwide.
  • 2 March Máté Kocsis said in a short video posted on the Fidesz faction’s Facebook page that ‘incredibly painful, surprising, shocking, brutal laws are coming.’
  • 3 March In an interview, Máté Kocsis stated that ‘When we established the Sovereignty Protection Office, we also promised that if new challenges arise in preserving the country's independence, we will provide effective responses at the legislative level. This is what is coming this spring. The USAID scandal has serious consequences in Serbia as well. There, authorities have already conducted searches at several civil organisations, interrogated around two hundred people, and detained several individuals. So, our southern neighbor has clearly begun a major cleanup.’
  • 15 March In his speech on Hungary’s National Holiday Commemorating the 1848–49 Revolution and War of Independence, Viktor Orbán said: ‘Glory to all Hungarians who did not back down when confronted by the Soros Empire, who did not kneel before Brussels, and who did not bow down before the liberal American empire!’ He also compared people, including members of civil society organisations bugs, saying: ‘After today’s festive gathering will come house cleaning for Easter. The bugs have survived winter. We are dismantling the financial machine that has used corrupt dollars to buy politicians, judges, journalists, bogus civil society organisations and political activists. We will disperse the entire shadow army.’
  • 16 March In an interview, András László said that ‘The American left has paid thousands of journalists worldwide. It is now completely clear that we are facing a well-coordinated, well-structured network of media outlets, politicians, and organisations that falsely claim to be civil society groups.’ He also said that ‘[…] Political agents financed from abroad cannot pose as civil society actors,’ and that ‘[…] the left-wing members of the European Parliament are working to have the EU take over the funding of NGOs that have now lost access to corrupt American dollars. This globalist corruption machine has weakened without American money, but the European left is trying to save it.’
  • 24 March At a joint press conference with Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maka Bochorishvili, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that today the example of Georgia shows how ‘the global dictatorship of the international liberal mainstream is trying to destroy’ patriotic, conservative, and Christian-based governments. He added that ‘for us it is unacceptable that the European Commission is using European taxpayers’ money to replace the funds cut by USAID […] also because it constitutes interference in the internal affairs of other countries, and moreover, it is done using European taxpayers’ money.’
  • 28 March In an interview for a pro-government daily newspaper, Tamás Lánczi said “The game these organisations have been playing since the regime change, carrying out political activities under the guise of civil society with foreign funding, must be brought to an end“; He added: “One well- known loophole is donations, those donation boxes where bundles of dollars or euros were arranged in consecutive serial numbers. The other method is the operation of anonymous donation websites, which are also suitable for hiding foreign funding. Legislative changes would be needed here as well.”

April

  • 1 April Fidesz MP János Halász submitted a legislative proposal “On the amendment of laws related to the suspension of Hungarian citizenship”t;. According to the proposal, the Hungarian state could “suspend the Hungarian citizenship of individuals who hold the citizenship of another state, for a definite period of time, if their Hungarian citizenship poses a threat to Hungary’s public order, public security, or national security.” The proposal outlines the conditions for applying the suspension. One of these is: “Engages in activities on behalf of a foreign power or foreign organization in a manner incompatible with Hungarian citizenship, and pursues the objectives of a foreign power or foreign organization.”
  • 14 April Hungary’s Fundamental Law was amended. A provision of the amendment enables the suspension of the Hungarian citizenship, for a definite period of time, of those non-EU and non-European Economic Area dual citizens.

May

  • 6 May At a public forum in Ráckeve, Viktor Orbán said “the government will debate a draft proposal submitted by our fellow MPs to bring foreign-funded organisations, claiming to be NGOs, under scrutiny. A transparency law is in the pipeline.”
  • 13 May János Halász, MP from the governing party tabled a bill titled “On the Transparency of Public Life“, which allows the SPO to consider organisations receiving funds from abroad as a threat to Hungary’s sovereignty, and enables the government to place them on a list. According to the bill, the listed organisations would be prohibited from (or required to have an official permit to) accepting funds from abroad (including funds obtained through transparent sources such as EU tenders), would be prohibited from collecting the 1 percent donations (In Hungary, individuals can allocate 1% of their income tax to selected organizations or causes) from the following tax year, and may be subjected to on-site inspections by the tax authority where the authority may request the assistance of the police in carrying out inspections. Furthermore, senior officers, founders, and members of the supervisory or audit committees of the listed organisations will be considered politically exposed persons and thus will have to make asset declarations. The unofficial translation of the bill (as it was submitted) is available here.

June

June is starting in 2 days and in less than 2 weeks this bill can become reality, so please spread the word, contribute to #saveunited and save Hungarian civil society!