Orban Seeks to Cut Funding to Hungary’s Independent NGOs, Media

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party wants to choke off domestic funding to independent civil society organizations, in an increasingly aggressive crackdown that critics say is aimed at stopping a surging opposition less than a year before elections.

Non-governmental organizations including media that are suspected of receiving funding from abroad and of “threatening Hungary’s sovereignty” will be barred from receiving the 1% of personal income tax that Hungarians can donate to civil society groups, one of the biggest sources of domestic funding for such entities.