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NGOs Are Thriving, Must Comply With Hungarian Law

• 6 Mar 2019 7:21 AM
• Hungary Matters

In Hungary, civil organisations “operate freely” and “are thriving”, a ruling Fidesz lawmaker said after a meeting of the justice committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

But every single civil organisation must stick to the law, and that applies to NGOs that support illegal migration, Barna Pál Zsigmond told MTI by phone from Paris.

Overall, 60,000 civil organisations operate in Hungary, and only around a dozen are “regularly in the government’s crosshairs”. He said he had made it clear to the CoE committee that the government cannot tolerate the activities of NGOs that aid illegal migration and break Hungarian laws.

The Hungarian people have made it clear that they “want nothing to do with illegal migration”, he added. The debate in PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is a part of the upcoming European parliamentary election, Zsigmond said.

Referring to financier George Soros, he said it was “strange” that a “pro-Soros Ukrainian rapporteur” had proposed putting the situation of NGOs in Hungary, and the country’s “Stop Soros” package of laws against supporting illegal migration, on the agenda.

MTI Photo

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• NGOs Comply Hungarian Law

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Hungary Matters

Launched in January 2014, this newsletter published on week days covers 'everything you need to know about what’s going on in Hungary and beyond', according to its publisher the state media agency MTI.

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