Hungary postpones vote on law that could curb foreign-funded groups

BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Hungary's ruling party has postponed a parliamentary debate and vote set for mid-June on transparency legislation governing foreign-funded groups, a senior party official said, following protests that it seemed aimed at stifling political dissent.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party submitted a bill to parliament on May 14 that would draft a list of organisations that get foreign funding and restrict or even shut them down if deemed to threaten Hungary's sovereignty and its culture.

The bill has been widely criticised by Hungarian news outlets, think tanks and civic rights groups. Street protests have occurred and scores of editors from leading European news outlets signed a petition last month calling for Orban's nationalist government to scrap the legislation.

In a letter published earlier on Wednesday the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights called on Hungarian lawmakers to reject or amend the bill, citing concerns over human rights violations.

"The (Fidesz) parliamentary group is united in the view that legal instruments must be used to protect sovereignty. However, there is debate over what those instruments should be," Fidesz parliamentary party leader Máté Kocsis told index.hu.

He said that so many proposals had been submitted regarding the bill in recent weeks that the debate needed to be postponed until the autumn session of parliament.

"No decision will be made on the matter before the summer. Parliament will not vote on it," Kocsis said.

The vote was originally scheduled to take place in mid-June and approval was expected as Fidesz holds a majority.

Orban, in power since 2010, pledged in March to crack down on foreign funding of independent media, opposition politicians and NGOs in what critics said was a move to strengthen his position ahead of elections due in 2026 when he faces an unprecedented challenge from a new opposition party.

(Reporting by Anita Komuves; editing by Mark Heinrich)