CORRECTION: Hungary's Orban vows fast crackdown on media, NGOs over foreign funding

Record ID: 1983587

  • Title: CORRECTION: Hungary's Orban vows fast crackdown on media, NGOs over foreign funding
  • Date: 15th March 2025
  • Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (MARCH 15, 2025) (REUTERS) VENDOR SELLING ORBAN MERCH ORBAN’S FACE ON SCARF (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) ORBAN SUPPORTERS, AGNES (SURNAME NOT GIVEN) AND ERZSEBET (SURNAME NOT GIVEN) SAYING: AGNES: "His speeches always give us hope, he can always say good things." ERZSEBET: "No matter what the weather is like, he can always say very good things." (SOUNDBITE) (H
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Fidesz Hungarian Prime Minister Hungarian politics Viktor Orban
  • Location: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
  • City: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Europe,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA002905815032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban pledged on Saturday (March 15) to crack down on politicians and journalists who receive foreign funding and again ruled out EU membership for Ukraine, stepping up his campaign for elections due in a year.
    Speaking at a rally in Budapest celebrating Hungary's national day, Orban said it was time to eliminate a "shadow army" of NGOs, journalists, judges and politicians paid from the United States and Brussels, referring to his plans to crack down on NGOs and media who received funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and billionaire George Soros.
    He again criticised Brussels for continuing military aid to Ukraine, ahead of an EU summit next week, saying the bloc wanted to "colonise" Ukraine. Orban has refused to send weapons to Kyiv since the start of the war.
    An ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, Orban faces an inflation-hit economy that is barely growing and a surging new opposition party, posing the strongest challenge yet to his 15-year rule.
    This week his Fidesz party submitted constitutional changes flagging the expulsion of citizens with dual citizenship if they are deemed to pose a threat to Hungary's sovereignty.
    The opposition Tisza party, led by a former government insider Peter Magyar who burst onto Hungary's political scene a year ago, will also stage a rally on Saturday which tens of thousands are expected to attend.
    (Production: Krisztina Fenyo, Lewis Macdonald)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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