Dear Colleagues,
Dear Friends,
I apologise in advance for the tone of this message, but we need you.
Taking into account the most recent developments in Hungary, we currently turn every stone for possible support, and rely on you more than ever.
What you need to know:
- On the 13th of May 2025 a new bill was submitted to Parliament which ought to regulate the “Transparency of Public Life”. [Further details are available here].
- The bill in question seeks to clear the influence of any organisation that is deemed to be a threat to the country’s sovereignty. In the eyes of the government this includes virtually any relevant CSOs and newspapers who would rely on foreign funding.
“The Sovereignty Protection Office“ will be enabled to blacklist any organisation that would develop its activity out of EU, CoE or other grants, if their work is not in line with the values of the government.
Among others, said values entail: No foreign influence on public discourse or Hungary’s democracy; No sentiments opposing Hungary’s views on gender and LGBTQ+ issues, as well as no attacks on the nation’s Judeo-Christian beliefs and traditions. - In addition, all applications for foreign grants will be needed to be approved by the National Tax Authority’s Money Laundering Unit before their possible submission. A failure to comply with this procedure would impose a fine of 25 times the amount of the foreign funding received, to be paid within 15 days.
- The complete bill is available here
What comes next and how you can help:
With nearly 100% of UNITED’s funding coming from international grants and donations we need to collect as much as we can from our existing supporter network by the 11th of June, before the bill will be ratified into law.
We therefore sincerely ask for your supporter fee to be paid before that time.
We also wish to possibly ask for a higher amount than your usual, due to the fact that the organisation’s future is in serious jeopardy for the case that we are unable to access our funds.
Everything can help at this stage so please also consider supporting us through a bank transfer even if you aren’t already a supporter:
Name of account holder: EIA Alapítvány
Name of Bank: MagNet Magyar Közösségi Bank ZRT.
IBAN: HU17 1620 0223 1010 4040 0000 0000
SWIFT / BIC: HBWEHUHB
Or via Paypal:
Last but not least we want to additionally call your attention to an upcoming social media campaign on the issue, whose details we will forward swiftly.
We truly rely on your contribution in these times and hope for your participation in distributing our call among your network. I yet again wish to apologise for the urgency in my tone, but it is truly the biggest windfall UNITED has to withstand so far.
As said in the beginning.
We need you.
With Solidarity,
Philip Pollák | Director
UNITED for Intercultural Action
tel: +36 70 772 9701 (Whatsapp, Signal)
mail: philip@unitedagainstracism.org
