CIVICUS discusses Hungary’s now-postponed foreign agents bill with Márta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights organisation that defends human dignity through legal and public advocacy.

Hungary’s government has delayed until later in the year a vote on a proposed law targeting organisations, including civil society and media outlets, that receive foreign funding. The bill, introduced on 13 May by a member of parliament from the ruling Fidesz party, was compared to Russia’s notorious ‘foreign agents’ law. If passed, those blacklisted by the government would be banned from receiving foreign income, with high fines and dissolution if found non-compliant. Fidesz’s latest assault on civic freedoms provoked a domestic and international backlash, with thousands taking to the streets of the capital, Budapest. On 4 May, the vote was postponed.

What’s in the proposed legislation?

Under this proposal, any organisation that receives foreign funding and is seen as ‘influencing public life’ through public discourse faces a potential ban on foreign income and could be closed down. This represents an existential threat to independent civil society and media. Should it pass, it will choke freedoms of association and expression, dragging Hungary perilously close to full authoritarianism.

The government’s justification is transparently cynical. Fidesz politicians insist this law would ‘protect national sovereignty’ and ‘ensure transparency in public life’. But the reality is it would grant the government carte blanche to place almost any legal entity, businesses and civil society organisations alike, on the register if it carries out activities deemed to ‘violate, portray negatively, or encourage opposition to’ cherry-picked parts of Hungary’s constitution. Under these sweeping powers, foreign funding, even from European Union (EU) institutions, would become off-limit to registered bodies.

Strip away the rhetoric, and the agenda is clear: crush all dissent. The government openly targets independent civil society groups and media outlets, recasting human rights defenders, investigative journalists and watchdog organisations as enemies of the state. This isn’t about sidelining critics; it’s about destroying them entirely.

How does this escalate repression?

Hungary’s assault on civil society has been years in the making. In 2023, the Sovereignty Protection Act set up an agency with vast powers to monitor and intimidate critics. The law was so egregiously arbitrary that the European Commission took Hungary before the Court of Justice of the EU last October, citing serious violations of EU standards.

The new bill would take that repression even further: it would allow the government to blacklist any organisation it claims threatens national sovereignty through alleged ‘foreign influence’. The consequences would be devastating: blacklisted entities would lose access to foreign income, including commercial revenues, donations and grants, and struggle under excessive administrative burdens when seeking local donations from citizens. With weak and ineffective provisions for judicial review against these decisions, organisations could face insolvency or forced dissolution.

The measure would effectively bar listed organisations from any meaningful role in public life and have an immediate chilling effect on independent voices. The law’s message is unambiguous: those who promote accountability, democratic values and human rights can now be branded enemies of the state.

How has civil society responded?

Resistance has been fierce and immediate. Civil society and independent media coalesced within hours of the bill being published, and thousands of people took to Budapest’s streets and continue to speak out, demonstrating the depth of opposition to these authoritarian measures.

Hundreds of civil society groups have rallied together, signing an open letter urging the European Commission to act. Media outlets from over 20 countries have amplified the outcry. Yet despite this groundswell of opposition, the Commission merely called on Hungary to withdraw the bill.

Why should Europe be alarmed?

This is no isolated attack on democracy. The proposed law copies Russian-style ‘foreign agent’ laws that have crushed civil society in Russia and Georgia. Most disturbingly, Hungary’s model serves as a blueprint for export: similar legislation is already spreading within the EU itself, taking root in countries including Bulgaria and Slovakia.

This authoritarian trend, combined with systematic efforts to discredit EU oversight, threatens to undermine the EU’s credibility and cohesion. If left unchecked, these laws could become the new normal in the EU. Only immediate and decisive action can prevent this contagion of anti-democratic laws consuming Europe’s democratic institutions.

What must happen now the vote has been postponed?

The EU must act without delay so this bill doesn’t become law. The European Commission must initiate legal proceedings, request interim measures from the EU Court of Justice in the pending Sovereignty Protection Act case and ensure full enforcement of the Court’s 2020 ruling in the Lex NGO case, which stated that forcing an organisation to register as ‘foreign-funded’ is ‘stigmatising, harmful and in breach of EU law’.

Nothing short of robust support will suffice, from EU institutions, EU states and the wider public. This law if passed would represent the final blow: it would erase the last domestic checks on corruption, disinformation and rights abuses. Once independent watchdogs and critical media are eliminated, no one will be left to sound the alarm.

We urge EU institutions, governments, civil society and media to unite against this bill and use all available tools to support targeted organisations. Every person across Europe must stand with us in defending democracy before it’s too late.