European editors sign petition opposing Hungary's move against foreign-funded groups

By Anita Komuves

BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Over 80 editors from leading European news outlets signed a petition calling for the scrapping of legislation in Hungary that aims to restrict foreign-funded media and rights groups, a step critics say is meant to stifle criticism of the government.

The bill submitted last week by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's nationalist Fidesz party would draft a list of entities that get foreign funding and curb or even shut them down if the government decides they threaten Hungary and its culture.

The legislation has been widely criticised by Hungarian news outlets, think tanks and rights groups, saying it appears aimed at muffling political dissent. Street protests have occurred.

Signatories of the petition, published on Tuesday, said Fidesz was "adopting the very same authoritarian tactics seen" in Russia under President Vladimir Putin. Russia adopted legislation in 2012 allowing authorities to label foreign-funded NGOs engaged in political activity as foreign agents.

Signatories said the survival of a free press was both a domestic Hungarian and European-wide issue, "especially in a region where an increasing number of populist leaders are adopting Viktor Orban’s methods".

The petition was signed by 84 leading editors from the Guardian in Britain, Liberation in France, Gazeta Wyborcza in Poland, ORF in Austria, SME in Slovakia and Hospodarske Noviny in the Czech Republic, among others.

They urged their respective governments and European Union institutions to work to prevent the passage of the law, saying that it contradicted both EU treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Hungarian lawmakers planned to debate the bill on Tuesday, with a vote scheduled for mid-June. Approval is likely as Fidesz commands an absolute majority in parliament.

Orban, in power since 2010, pledged in March to crack down on foreign funding of independent media and opposition leaders in what critics called a move to bolster his position ahead of elections, due in 2026 and expected to be closely fought.

(Reporting by Anita Komuves; editing by Mark Heinrich)