Hungarian PM Orban calls to expose US funding to media, NGOs
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The Hungarian PM said these organizations pose a threat to Hungary's sovereignty.
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during his annual international press conference in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP)
The Prime Minister of Hungary said the government will take action to reveal all funding, such as USAID funding, coming from the US to NGOs and media critical of the Hungarian government, adding that it's time to get rid of such foreign networks.
PM Viktor Orban added that organizations that received foreign funding, such as from USAID, will be pursued legally and eliminated as they pose a threat to Hungary's sovereignty.
"In America we would call them agents, as they do not serve their own country but accept money from another power," Orban said, adding, "We don't call them agents... but these are people and organizations paid from abroad whose job is to overthrow the Hungarian government."
Orban pushed through a law in late 2023 to create the Sovereignty Protection Office, an authority to explore and monitor risks of "political interference" in Hungary.
The Hungarian PM has repeatedly expressed concern regarding foreign funding for organizations critical of his government, with George Soros, a Hungarian-born US billionaire, being a frequent target. "We are talking about a dark thing here... Brussels, the Soros foundation, the U.S. budget, they have channeled big amounts of money with a political purpose into the political life of certain countries," he said, referring to Slovakia and Serbia.
Trump shuts down USAID
Elon Musk announced on Tuesday that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was working on dismantling USAID, emphasizing that USAID is a primary focus of DOGE and that "it's beyond repair" and a "nest of radical left-wing Marxists who hate America."
Reuters reported that two top security officials at USAID were fired from their posts on Sunday after they refused to allow DOGE representatives to access the restricted parts of the USAID Headquarters in Washington D.C.
USAID employees were put on leave and recalled from abroad, after an announcement by Trump that said: "On Friday, February 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm (EST) all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally."
Employees at the USAID's HQ in Washington received an email telling them: "At the direction of Agency leadership, the USAID headquarters at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, DC will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, February 3, 2025. Agency personnel normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely tomorrow, with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership," according to CNN.
The organization employs over 10,000 people, with over two-thirds of them living abroad, operating in over 60 countries.
USAID is the world's largest individual donor, with the US allocating $72 billion in aid during the 2023 fiscal year, constituting 42% of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations.
