In the year since it has been operating, the Sovereignty Protection Authority has prioritised identifying foreign funded organisations that exert political pressure, mapping their networks and making their funding transparent, the statement said.

The body welcomed that the government has declared such organisations a risk to national sovereignty.

The authority will continue to work to provide clear information on their "real activities" as well as making "necessary suggestions to increase the efficacy of the work against foreign funded organisations exerting political pressure."

Govt official: 'USAID billions: How Washington and Brussels fund media to control narratives'

Hungary has warned that foreign funded media and NGOs are being used as political tools to manipulate public opinion, the state secretary for international communication and relations, Zoltan Kovacs said.

"Now, thanks to newly released data, the scale of this operation is clearer than ever," Kovacs said in an English language post on X, which was also posted in Hungarian on Facebook.

Kovacs said the US aid agency USAID had been "quietly" financing 6,200 journalists and 707 media outlets worldwide, including in Hungary, aiming "to promote a specific ideological agenda, one that aligns with left-liberal interests, supports mass migration, and undermines governments that refuse to toe the globalist line".

"USAID, originally created for humanitarian and development assistance, has become one of the most influential backers of media organizations across the world. Official records show that under the Biden administration, it funded hundreds of media NGOs—many of which operate as lobbying organizations rather than neutral press outlets. In Ukraine, for example, 9 out of 10 media outlets were reportedly funded by the Biden White House," he said.

Kovacs said USAID had played a similar role in Hungary. "Director Samantha Power visited Budapest in 2023 and met with Hungarian media-focused NGOs at the Ervin Szabó Metropolitan Library. Officially, the meeting was about 'press freedom.' In reality, it was a strategic discussion on how to expand the reach of opposition-aligned media with U.S. financial support," he said.

When US President Donald Trump froze foreign aid for 90 days, "temporarily halting USAID’s ability to funnel money into opposition-aligned media", Kovacs said Hungarian media outlet 444.hu had lost 8 million forints (EUR 19,800) in funding.

The papers G7 and Jelen had earlier received 7 million forints each, as did Tilos Radio, while Klub Radio and Magyar Hang had each received over 10 million forints in support, he said.

Kovacs said Polish leftist-liberal outlets had been similarly funded.

"However, the globalist network was already working on a backup plan," Kovacs said. "With Trump cutting off U.S. funding, liberal networks wasted no time in shifting operations from Washington to Brussels, with European institutions now preparing to assume USAID’s role as the main financial backer of left-liberal organizations on a global scale."

MEP Daniel Freund "openly stated that European institutions should step in to replace USAID’s funding mechanisms," he said.

"The EUobserver, a Brussels-based liberal news outlet, confirmed that the goal is to ensure pro-migration, anti-sovereignty media outlets continue receiving financial support—even without U.S. dollars flowing in."

Kovacs said the Hungarian government had been sounding the alarm on these foreign funding operations for years. In 2022, leaked intelligence reports had shown that foreign funded NGOs and media organisations had played an active role in supporting Hungary’s opposition parties during the elections, he said.

"The Hungarian government has made its stance clear: Foreign interference in national politics will not be tolerated. There will be no place for Brussels-funded NGOs, left-wing media, or political operatives attempting to influence Hungary’s democratic processes. The era of foreign embassies funneling money into opposition media is over," Kovacs said.

Meanwhile, he said: "Hungary is not alone in this fight. Across Central Europe, nations that resist the liberal-progressive agenda are facing similar pressures. Slovakia and Serbia have both seen political destabilization efforts targeting their governments, with leaders openly discussing foreign-backed attempts to undermine their sovereignty."

"USAID’s influence in media funding is just one part of a much larger strategy: Control the narrative, discredit conservative governments, and shape public opinion to serve globalist interests. Now that the financial pipeline is shifting from Washington to Brussels, the fight for sovereignty in Hungary and beyond is entering a new phase," Kovacs said.

He concluded: "The question remains: Will European nations stand up against this influence campaign, or will they allow Brussels to become the new headquarters for political manipulation?"

Official: Goal to protect sovereignty of European nations

The goal of the Patriots political grouping is to prevent the political agenda of the "failed US Democrats", using American dollars, from undermining the sovereignty of European nations, Balazs Orban, the prime minister's political director said.

"Skeletons are falling out of the closet," he said in a video uploaded to Facebook, referring to "the fate of American dollars" which was now receiving heightened scrutiny in connection with US aid agency USAID programmes used to push a "progressive, liberal, power-hungry" agenda.

He said the administration of President Joe Biden had used USAID to interfere in the politics of sovereign countries, and this had transpired after the inauguration of Donald Trump.

The political director said most of the support, which he called "woke diplomacy", had been channeled to eastern Europe, the Balkans, Georgia and surrounding countries.

He also insisted there were "egregious examples" of the financing of a transgender operation in Colombia, gender reassignment surgery in Guatemala and the creation of "transgender-friendly" workplaces in Serbia.

In Hungary, "[George] Soros organisation" Freedom House used American money to finance a project to gauge the extent of "liberal democracy". He also referred to a "report by the secret services" that indicated that the 2022 left-liberal opposition campaign had been financed through "organisations linked to George Soros".

Former USAID chief Samantha Power "personally visited Budapest" in connection with the alleged political operations, he said.

Orban said it was expected that Trump would "stop the practice of financing liberal propaganda abroad with American taxpayer money", though "we're keeping our eyes on the ball", he added.

"Brussels liberals", he said, were "waiting for the failed democrats with open arms", but Hungary had had enough of "liberal political exports".

Orban: NGOs got money to topple govt from 3 sources

Hungarian civil organisations and NGOs have received money from "the Soros foundations, the US government and Brussels", to promote left-wing causes, strengthen opposition parties and topple the government, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview with public radio.

Orban said Hungary was preparing to sign a "substantial" economic agreement with the US, having agreed on it with President Trump before his election, Orban said.

Trump has decided to make public the sums US government agencies had paid in past years, and the organisations they had paid them to, Orban said.

"The global liberal elite used the US budget and government to finance their financial an ideological agenda worldwide. They made it look like aid, but it was really a tool of political influence," he said.

He said the beneficiaries had received funding from Soros foundations and the US budget. "They used that money for activities [aimed at] dismantling the community, supporting migration, going against families and financing gender madness worldwide," he said. In Hungary's case, "Brussels also supports those aims," he added.

Orban calls for 'elimination of Soros network'

Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday called for the "full elimination of the Soros network", adding that sanctions must be levelled at everyone who accepts foreign funds to influence Hungarian politics.

"They need to be swept away ... now that the US president got started," Orban said in an interview to public radio.

No one is allowed to accept foreign funding to influence Hungarian politics, Orban said, adding that those who break that rule faced legal consequences.

He welcomed "the window when the US and Hungary both have governments that accept sovereignty as the greatest value... They are doing what we have been building for 15 years here, and this is the moment when we can settle the score with these international networks, when we can sweep them out and make their operations legally impossible," Orban said.

"This will not be an easy job", Orban said, adding that he expected big disputes around the issue. "This job must be done; Hungarian sovereignty must be protected."

Orban said Hungarian civil organisations and NGOs had received money from "the Soros foundations, the US government and Brussels", to promote left-wing causes, strengthen opposition parties and topple the government.

Trump has decided to make public the sums US government agencies had paid in past years, and the organisations they had paid them to, Orban said.

"The global liberal elite used the US budget and government to finance their financial an ideological agenda worldwide. They made it look like aid, but it was really a tool of political influence," he said.

He said the beneficiaries had received funding from Soros foundations and the US budget. "They used that money for activities [aimed at] dismantling the community, supporting migration, going against families and financing gender madness worldwide," he said. In Hungary's case, "Brussels also supports those aims," he added.

At the same time, "no one in Hungary gave these organisations a mandate to do what they're doing," he said.

Orban said that those NGOs, while insisting that they kept politics at arms length, only supported issues linked to leftist parties. "So they received the money to force through those issues, strengthen opposition parties and topple the government."

"In Hungarian, the word 'agent' was overused in Communist times, but these people are agents in the American sense of the word, meaning that they don't serve their own countries but accept funding from another power to represent their aims, ideologies and programmes,"Orban said.

As an example, he pointed to the news outlet Politico, which he said had received funding from Brussels, the US and the Soros network, and continued to criticise Hungary and its prime minister, while "putting the emerging candidates of the opposition on all sorts of image-building lists".

Politicians such as Peter Marki-Zay and Peter Magyar "are promoted as the most promising and talented politicians; they're trying to make them accepted and popular in Hungary and abroad," he said.

Orban said that in the wake of "Tornado Trump", facts were coming to light. "The fans of conspiracy theories are now in trouble; they will have to come up with new theories because [what they called conspiracy theories so far] have been shown to be true."

For example, "they have always denied the existence of a Soros migration plan, and yet 9 million illegal migrants arrived in Europe in the past 9 years, just as described [in the plan], and those supporting it all received monies."

 "I'm not saying this is a conspiracy, but it is a dark thing indeed. Various financial resources -- Brussels, the Soros Foundation, the US budget -- ploughed large sums into the political lives of certain countries with specific political aims."

He said the anti-government movements in Slovakia and Serbia were financed in the same way, "and they want the same in Hungary".

Meanwhile, Orban said Hungary was preparing to sign a "substantial" economic agreement with the US, having agreed on it with President Trump before the US election.

The agreement would aim to remedy the "destruction wrought by Democrats [in the area of] US-Hungarian economic ties" who refused to renew certain agreements and introduced sanctions as well as imposing difficulties on travel.

Meanwhile, "not only will we remedy the past, we will also have to open up new vistas," he said.

Under the Democrat administration, in Hungary Chinese investments overtook those of the US, which was unprecedented, Orban said, adding that he hoped the new agreement would remedy that situation.

"This still costs us less than if we allowed the migrants in," he said.

Poland, Orban added, had also "rebelled", declaring that it would refuse to implement the migration pact. But liberal government would escape punishment, he said.

In the wake of Italy, "the Germans have also declared their revolt", he said, 70 percent of the German people who expressed opposition to EU migration policy ahead of the upcoming German elections.

Meanwhile, Orban said that every year the government had "won the battle over the 13th month", and this was true of this year too.

He said repeated calls for its elimination had taken place over the years, while demands for reform of the pension system usually ended with money falling into someone else's hands, he added, mentioning "speculators, businessmen, financiers, banks, and people like that".

Orban said less money for the people and more money for the banks was the basic logic behind policymaking in Brussels.

"We're resisting this," he said. "This battle was won this year, too, because the 13th month pension is not paid in twelve equal parts but in one lump sum."

Orban also referred to the government's decision to extend its scheme supporting rural home renovations is offering opportunities for 600,000 elderly people.

In Hungary's 2,900 localities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, there are some 420,000 pensioner households, "so we can say with ease" that some 600,000 people have now received access to the programme, he said.

They, along with other participants, can now apply for 3 million forints (EUR 7,400) in funding and another 3 million in government subsidised loans for renovating, extending or improving their homes, he said.

The right-wing government sees pensioners as "the people, thanks to whom we are here; the builders of this country, those who maintained it and worked for us," Orban said.

He said the government's stance on pensions was driven by a "deep Christian feeling".

Orban said programmes launched this year were showing signs of success, with positive feedback on the rural home creation scheme and tens of thousands of people having applied for employee and SME loans.

He said the left saw village life and the community "as a thing of the past", while the government regarded the village as "the most attractive way of life in the future", and it was taking measures to strengthen this way of life.
 

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

*********************************

You're very welcome to comment, discuss and enjoy more stories via our Facebook page: 
Facebook.com/XpatLoopNews + via XpatLoop’s groups: Budapest Expats / Expats Hungary

You can subscribe to our newsletter here: XpatLoop.com/Newsletters

Do you want your business to reach tens of thousands of potential high-value expat customers? Then just contact us here.