The Hungarian government will push through the so-called Transparency Act, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced on Wednesday at an informal summit of the Turkic Council in Budapest.
The politician also sent a message to the European Parliament, which has called for an extraordinary debate on the draft law that could stigmatise and financially destroy press and NGOs that accept foreign funding.
"The concern is legitimate, it is just misplaced. Because it's not the transparency law that should worry us, it's the fact that the internal affairs of an EU member state are being seriously interfered with from outside. The concern should be about this," said Szijjártó, who believes Ukraine is conducting anti-Hungarian propaganda.
"Recently, we have been witnessing increasingly active Ukrainian Secret Service actions and more and more active Ukrainian espionage activities here in Hungary. At the same time, Ukraine is conducting increasingly aggressive anti-Hungarian and anti-Hungarian propaganda in Ukraine, in Hungary and in the international arena", he said.
The bill would allow the government to monitor, restrict, penalise and potentially ban media outlets and non-governmental organisations it deems a threat to the country's sovereignty.
It has been compared to Russia's “foreign agent” law and is expected to pass in the parliament where the ruling Fidesz party holds a two-thirds majority. It is seen by many of Orbán's opponents as among the most repressive policies the long-serving leader has levelled at his critics in the last 15 years of his rule.
On Sunday, a mass protest drew around 10,000 people in what some demonstrators called an act of resistance against the new law and the government.
Turkic states have a stronghold in Budapest
The informal meeting of the Organization of Turkic States was attended by leaders of member states, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Hungary participates in the organization only as an observer, but hosts its European office in Budapest.
It is very important for the association of states seeking European ties, according to Secretary General Kubanychbek Omuraliev.
„Our European office, we call it, is also a bridge between Europe and our member states. Of course our member states separately have strategic level cooperation, as you know all our countries have embassies in Budapest, and same as Hungary have embassies in all our countries.”
Szijjártó said that Hungary would like to further strengthen its relations with the Turkish states in the future.
