Michael O'Flaherty

Draft legislation currently under consideration in Hungary would allow the government to categorise organisations as threatening the sovereignty of Hungary because they carry out activities aimed at influencing public life with foreign support.

Such organisations would no longer be able to receive foreign donations without permission and would be subjected to the national anti-money laundering framework of scrutiny and sanctions.

Mr O’Flaherty has raised concerns with the speaker of the Hungarian parliament as to the compatibility of certain provisions of the draft law with the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality.

He warns that the vague phrasing of the bill could encompass a wide range of legitimate activities of legal entities, precluding them from accessing any form of funding and possibly forcing them into bankruptcy.

If adopted, the law would allow for severe interferences in the functioning of civil society organisations, without providing any procedural safeguards and without a clear, evidence-based risk analysis to demonstrate a pressing social need, he says.

His letter highlights a previous judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) against Hungary and two rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against Russia.