Brussels is pushing a new directive that would force Hungary to surrender control over who can influence its public life — even if that means surrendering to foreign-funded organizations acting against our national interests.
Brussels is once again preparing to overstep its mandate — this time by attempting to impose a legal framework that would strip member states, including Hungary, of the right to defend their sovereignty against foreign-funded political networks. A new EU directive, currently under discussion, would introduce “European cross-border associations” (ECBAs), granting these organizations automatic rights to operate, fundraise, and influence public life in all member states, without meaningful national oversight.
Hungary cannot and will not accept such interference.
The proposed legislation would create a privileged legal status for organizations that are not rooted in the local civic fabric, but are instead driven by foreign agendas and financed by international actors. These are not genuine civil society groups, but political pressure organizations working to reshape our laws, institutions, and public discourse from the outside. Hungary has spent years exposing how such networks, including the Ökotárs Foundation, have funneled foreign funds into domestic political activism, often under the guise of “non-profit” work.
If the directive is adopted, Hungarian authorities would be forced to recognize and fund these entities — even when they are openly acting against our national interests. They would be free to move money, relocate their headquarters, and launch operations inside Hungary, all while being protected from meaningful scrutiny. The law would also severely restrict our ability to shut them down, no matter how clearly they undermine Hungarian democratic decision-making.
This is unacceptable.
The organizations behind this push are not only beneficiaries of the directive — they helped write it. The proposal was shaped with input from networks tied to the Open Society Foundations and others with a long track record of political interventionism. These are the same actors who seek to influence Hungarian policy without accountability, using foreign money to bypass the will of the Hungarian people.
Hungary insists on its right to decide who may operate within its borders and under what conditions. Sovereignty is not negotiable. We cannot allow unelected foreign-financed organizations to operate above our laws and without our consent. Brussels may dress this up as “civil society empowerment,” but the reality is simple: This is about legalizing political influence from abroad and making national resistance to it impossible.
We will resist this directive through all available political and legal means. Hungary stands for national sovereignty, democratic legitimacy, and the right of its people to chart their own path — without interference from foreign-funded networks hiding behind EU institutions.
