Hungary's Orban flags new legislation, crackdown on media over 'foreign funding'

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's government will draft legislation to protect national sovereignty and, following the example of the new U.S. government, will uncover foreign funding channelled to Hungarian media, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday.

President Donald Trump's decision to freeze most funds disbursed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for 90 days and put most of its staff on leave, while tasking billionaire Elon Musk with scaling down the agency, has caused chaos for NGOs and humanitarian projects worldwide.

Trump's moves against USAID prompted Orban, a long-time ally of Trump, to say on February 7 that he wanted to eliminate all "foreign networks" of NGOs and media critical of his government.

"The corruption network that rules the entire Western world of politics and media must be eliminated," Orban told the opening session of parliament on Monday, adding that his government would "go to the wall" with the new laws.

The Hungarian leader, who faces an unprecedented challenge to his rule from a new surging opposition party ahead of an election in 2026, flagged a crackdown on NGOs and media who had received funding from the U.S. and billionaire George Soros.

"We have abundant information on this but still have some gaps... we have found several channels where they funnelled hundreds of millions of forints to Hungarian media and organisations," Orban said.

"Therefore, I propose to the House that ...it should pass the laws needed to protect our sovereignty that are still missing." He did not go into more details on what the new legislation would entail.

While USAID distributes billions of dollars of humanitarian aid, it has also been involved in many other projects, including those aimed at strengthening civil society and democracy worldwide.

USAID opened new programmes in central Europe in late 2022, supporting locally-driven initiatives to bolster democratic institutions and independent media.

Orban has transformed Hungary's media landscape over the past 14 years. State media have been put under full government control and several private media outlets shut or taken over by government-friendly owners. Tight media control has helped Orban win the past three elections with a landslide.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Anita Komuves; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Alex Richardson)