Orban plans to impose sanctions against independent media in Hungary

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The Hungarian leader has been waging a consistent campaign against dissent in the country.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he plans to impose sanctions on independent media and civil society groups that receive foreign funding. The Hungarian leader is stepping up a campaign to suppression of dissent ahead of key elections in the country, reports Bloomberg.

Orban welcomed US President Donald Trump's plans to close the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which launched a program aimed at strengthening democracy and civil society in Central Europe at the end of 2022. The program, in particular, included funding for NGOs and independent media in Hungary. The nationalist Hungarian prime minister, on Friday, February 7, said in a new interview that Trump's decisions encouraged him.

“We must sweep them out and put an end to this. When, if not now, when the Americans have started doing this too,” Orban said, referring to groups that receive foreign funding and, he said, support an anti-government agenda. 

Budapest has had strained relations with the US administration under President Joe Biden, which criticized Orban's government for its close ties to Russia and China.

With the return of Trump, with whom Orbán maintains friendly relations, the Hungarian leader is “going on the offensive.” According to Orbán, his government is working on a bill that would impose sanctions on organizations that accept foreign funding, since such groups, according to the Hungarian prime minister, are tools for “exercising political influence.”

Orban's comments come as his ruling Fidesz party lags in polls ahead of elections in just over a year and has limited financial capacity to repeat the record campaign spending it made in 2022, securing its leader a fourth term as prime minister.

Orban conducts consistent campaign against dissent in the country, including against academia, NGOs, the media, and even the courts. At the same time, organizations that support his government receive generous funding, often through state-owned companies.