Hungary Loses EU Clash Over Curbs on Soros-Linked Groups
Hungary Loses EU Fight Over Law Targeting Soros-Linked Groups
(Bloomberg) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban lost a court fight with the European Union over controversial curbs on foreign-funded non-governmental organizations and groups linked to financier George Soros.
The Hungarian law imposed “discriminatory and unjustified restrictions on foreign donations to civil society organizations,” the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg said in a final ruling on Thursday.
The case follows a string of clashes pitting EU nations Hungary and Poland against the European Commission for overstepping the bloc’s legal framework and challenging the rule of law. The commission sued Hungary in 2018, describing the disputed Hungarian law as imposing discriminatory, unnecessary and unjustified restrictions.
Orban’s Fidesz party has stood by the 2017 law on NGOs, saying it helps protect Hungary and boosts the transparency of foreign-funded, pro-immigration Soros organizations.
Hungary will respect the EU court’s decision and will probably amend the contested law to ensure its original aim of boosting transparency while making sure the rules are in line with the bloc’ norms, Minister in Charge of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyas said at a briefing in Budapest.
Open Society Foundations, a group founded by Soros, said the decision “will resonate throughout the European Union” and that “repealing the law would mark a welcome step toward restoring both the rule of law, and pluralism in public life,” according to a statement from its president Patrick Gaspard.
The group, which helps dozens of non-governmental organizations around the world, moved its Budapest-based operations and staff to Berlin in response to the crackdown.
While the NGO law doesn’t name Soros, who was born and raised in Budapest, ruling party politicians first floated the idea of an NGO bill in January 2017, saying they wanted to “sweep out” organizations associated with the financier, including those that promote human rights and government transparency.
Hungary’s Constitutional Court in 2018 opted against issuing rulings on the law, pending the outcome of EU case. Orban, in power since 2010, has vowed to end liberal democracy in the nation and pledged to stick to the campaign against foreign-funded NGOs.
In Thursday’s ruling, EU judges said “the objective of increasing the transparency of the financing of associations” does not appear to justify the disputed law.
The case is: C-78/18, Commission v. Hungary.
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