Hungary has been accused of trying to intimidate civil society as the European Commission has issued legal proceedings against its Sovereignty Protection Office.
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00:00Hungary has been accused of trying to intimidate civil society by launching an investigation
00:05into Transparency International, the NGO working to end corruption worldwide.
00:11A newly formed body by the Hungarian government named the Sovereign Protection Office sent
00:16a six-page letter to the group accusing it of aiming to influence the will of the electorate.
00:23Lawyers for Transparency International say the claims are false and are a response to
00:27inquiries it had for Chinese financing of Hungarian transport.
00:32We were expecting as a member of the civil society group in Hungary that one or other
00:40of our organizations is going to be assessed or investigated.
00:43We are now scapegoated and singled out.
00:46Definitely it's a response to our pulling the legs of the Sovereign Protection Office.
00:52We kept on submitting letters to this office informing the head of the leadership of the
01:00office about the potential sovereign implication in Chinese influence in Hungary.
01:07China is giving a major state finance loan to the Hungarian government to finance the
01:13Belgrade to Budapest railway and this is a very obscure investment with no transparency
01:19requirements applying.
01:20Budapest denies the Sovereign Protection Law is about stifling freedom of information and
01:25insists that the office is independent of the government and that the law aims to provide
01:30clarity on funding for NGOs.
01:32And the legislation creates an office that is independent from the government so when
01:39you refer to investigation or scrutiny initiated by this office, this is not something that
01:46is done by the government, this is something that is done by the office which is institutionally
01:50and personally speaking independent from the government.
01:53So I would refer these questions to the office.
01:57The European Commission has issued legal proceedings against Hungary for the Sovereignty Law saying
02:01that it violates a wide range of EU fundamental rights and values.
02:06Hungary has until the end of the summer to respond.
02:09If it doesn't do so in a satisfactory manner, the EU says it will have no choice to escalate
02:14the situation.
02:15Shona Murray, Euronews, Budapest.
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