EU court finds Hungary’s curbs on foreign-funded NGOs break the law

The EU’s top court rules that curbs imposed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on foreign-funded organizations violate European law.

The European Commission referred Hungary to the court following the adoption in 2017 of a law that is one of many that the EU says do not meet the standards of European rule of law.

“Hungary’s restrictions on the funding of civil organizations by persons established outside that member state do not comply with the Union law,” the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice says in a statement.

According to critics, this law targeted Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros, who in 1984 created the Open Society Foundation, a harsh critic of Orban.

It is not immediately apparent what the implications of the ruling will be.

— with AFP