Defending civil society in a speech to the Clinton Global Initiative, he said “From Russia to China to Venezuela, you are seeing relentless crackdowns, vilifying legitimate dissent as subversive. In places like Azerbaijan, laws make it incredibly difficult for NGOs even to operate. From Hungary to Egypt, endless regulations and overt intimidation increasingly target civil society.”

Obama went on to say that the US will increase support for civil society groups, and will provide greater emergency support to embattled NGOs.

The Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry said “Hungarians are a freedom-loving nation and would not tolerate any restriction of their freedom”, in a terse statement.

“Our point of departure is that Hungary and the US are allies. At the same time, the remarks made by the US President on the restrictions by the government on civil society are factually unfounded”, the ministry said.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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