Since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the Hungarian government’s war on NGOs and independent media has escalated. The smear campaigns, communications from Prime Minister Orbán and his allies, and actions by state agencies all point in the same direction: taking advantage of the international situation, the government is intensifying its efforts to silence independent voices more aggressively than ever before.
Recent Events:
Máté Kocsis, leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group, published a Facebook post about a statement allegedly made during a closed session of the Parliament’s Committee on National Security, claiming that “the Ukrainian state is launching a smear campaign against the Hungarian Prime Minister, with the aim of undermining the Prime Minister’s international image and weakening Hungary’s ability to assert its interests. The operation’s goal is to use the press and journalists, both Hungarian and foreign, to publish articles and materials—some possibly untrue—that negatively influence international public opinion.” As expected, this post was followed by articles, videos, and viral social media content.
Shortly thereafter, Direkt36 was accused of participating in a smear campaign on behalf of Ukraine. The accusation was meant to discredit the center’s documentary on the Orbán family’s economic empire, which sums up decades of investigative reporting. Tamás Menczer, Fidesz Communications Director, provided no factual rebuttal to a journalist’s questions but instead repeated the allegations: “You are like that. You want to overthrow this government on foreign orders and under foreign guidance, and put people in government who have already destroyed this country and are now applying for this job”. Direkt36 has denied these claims and remains confident that the documentary will reach a wide audience. “Dynasty” has already accumulated 3.1 million views, with no evidence disproving its factual content, nor has any proof of alleged Ukrainian influence been provided by the government.
In his recent radio interviews and speeches, Viktor Orbán made the government’s stance clear. The Prime Minister claimed that independent media is composed of foreign agents who receive funding from the Soros network, the US government, and Brussels to undermine the Hungarian government: “In American parlance, these people are agents,” he said, adding that this must stop and “they must be wiped out, the entire Soros network must be dismantled”.
The Sovereignty Protection Office is also playing a role, releasing new “research reports” “exposing” NGOs and independent media for participating in EU tenders. Reports indicate that the Office may soon be granted the authority to impose sanctions: The Prime Minister has announced plans to take legal action to eliminate critical voices: “We will send a government envoy to the US to collect all data and evidence on Hungary. Then, we will urgently create the constitutional and legal conditions to ensure that we do not have to stand idly by while pseudo-civil society organisations serve foreign interests and organize political actions in front of our eyes… We should not have to stand by as they pocket their paychecks in front of us, flaunting their impunity in the hope of international protection. We will finish off the Budapest dumping ground of the empire by Easter”. In a speech to Parliament, he urged lawmakers: “(…) to learn the lessons of what has happened and draft the necessary laws to protect our sovereignty. The government will close the money trap of the Soros network. We will end the era of the rolling dollar. The government is prepared to go to the wall and beyond.”
Meanwhile, the European Parliament has joined the lawsuit filed by the European Commission against the Hungarian government over the law on the protection of sovereignty, which contradicts EU law. While the lawsuit—likely to drag on for years—proceeds, the Hungarian government remains free to continue its harassment and intimidation of independent media and NGOs.