The Fidesz-KDNP group in the European Parliament has submitted amendments to the European Parliament’s report on the so-called Democracy Shield program to ensure full transparency, Csaba Dömötör, Fidesz MEP, said in a press release on Friday.
As the MEP sees it, they are calling on the European Commission to create a unified, publicly accessible central database of the organizations it supports. They propose that the content of grant agreements should be made public, contrary to current practice.
Csaba Dömötör emphasized that
they consider it essential that the list of external expert groups involved in funding decisions also be made public, including in relation to specific decisions. As he wrote, the committee most often deflects responsibility by saying that the decisions were made by external experts.
As the statement confirms, the experience shows that a significant proportion of the organizations receiving support engage in political activities without democratic mandate. In most cases, the committee does not disclose the contracts, arguing that this would harm the business interests and reputation of the so-called civil society organizations. “This is a completely absurd argument and an unacceptable practice,” said the representative.
He emphasized that this is particularly perverse in light of the fact that member states, including Hungary, are required to publish contracts concluded in various areas within a short period of time; in Hungary’s case, this period is 14 days.
The Fidesz-KDNP’s amendments are also supported by last year’s report from the European Court of Auditors, wrote Csaba Dömötör. The EU supervisory body found that there are serious shortcomings in the transparency of so-called activist contracts. To illustrate the scale of the problem, he said that the European Commission had concluded 37,000 contracts with non-governmental organizations between 2019 and 2023.
The representative also reported that amendments had been tabled to ensure that the European Commission would phase out funding for so-called fact-checking groups. In their view, these groups are implementing increasingly extensive censorship.
As the statement goes, the proposal is particularly timely in light of a U.S. congressional report that revealed that the Commission had held around 100 meetings with major technology companies, including Facebook, on the moderation of social media content. Csaba Dömötör said that while the fact-checking system had been dismantled in the United States, the committee wanted to extend censorship practices, which he said were contrary to the democratic principles that EU institutions also refer to.
The representative said that they expect a protracted and heated debate in the European Parliament on the report on the Democracy Shield program.
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Via MTI; Featured image: Hungary Today
The post We Demand a Unified Register of Organizations Funded By Brussels, Demands Fidesz MEP appeared first on Hungary Today.
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