Fidesz Leader Explains Proposed Bill against Foreign Funding for Parties

Members of the 2022 pre-election coalition that had received millions of dollars from mostly U.S. lobby groups

If someone gains public power while being in the grip of foreign interest groups, one is endangering the country’s sovereignty, the leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group said on Radio Kossuth on Sunday.

In Máté Kocsis’ view, the background to the proposed Hungarian Office for the Protection of Sovereignty bill is that in 2022, the Hungarian political left used foreign money to campaign during the elections. This had not been done since 1990, and it was an unwritten rule that campaigns could not be financed from abroad, while parties were already prohibited by law to this effect, he said. This agreement and ban has been broken by the left-wing pre-election coalition, circumventing the current rules, when money has been accepted from abroad, the politician stressed.

He said it was a matter of sovereignty that politics should not be financed by foreign states, capitalist groups, corporate interests, or the financial world. If these groups gain influence in Hungarian public life, this could endanger the country’s sovereignty. Kocsis also envisaged that left-wing parties will not support the current proposal.

He maintained that from now on, all nominating organizations and candidates running in elections would be subject to the same strict accounting and funding rules. Speaking about the elements of the proposal, he added that

the amendment to the Constitution would lay the groundwork for the creation of the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty. The amendment to the Criminal Code provides that anyone who uses illicit foreign funding in an election campaign could face up to three years in prison.

The third rule is that the same rules apply to all candidate organizations (i.e., “movements”), and the fourth part of the bill is the creation of the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty. This office will monitor any foreign interference that threatens the country’s sovereignty, Kocsis pointed out. He added that the office will be able to access and request a wide range of data and information and initiate proceedings. Its main task will be to monitor, detect, and disclose to the public any foreign intervention attempt that could violate Hungary’s sovereignty under the provisions of the Basic Law, the leader of the governing party said.

Kocsis called it a long-established fact in Hungarian domestic politics that speculators, billionaires, and even certain institutions of other states from abroad interfere in Hungarian public life, and said that one only has to think of the fact that for a long time more than 50 percent of the Hungarian media was financed from abroad, or how much so-called NGO money is received from abroad.

The group leader said the laws might be a sufficient deterrent. He noted, however, that knowing the Hungarian left and the funding system of the international left, they will try to circumvent all rules in the future. Kocsis expects the liberal elite in Brussels to be vocal in their protests against the proposed bill, but everyone should know that the new Hungarian legislation would not be unique as compared to those in other countries. Many EU countries have rules to protect their sovereignty, he noted.

Featured Image: Facebook Mindenki Magyarországa Mozgalom.