The Civil EU Presidency has started! Civil society organisations have launched a week-long series of events to address issues that were left out of the official programme of the Hungarian EU Presidency. Their priorities are democracy, solidarity, and green transition.

Results of survey on the chilling effect of the Sovereignty Protection Act

The over 100 signatory civil society organisations protest against adopting the law that only protects the arbitrary interests of those in power, and call on the government to stop stigmatising and intimidating citizens who are active in public affairs.

On the fifth anniversary of Hungary’s anti-NGO laws, Civilisation coalition calls on the government to fully implement court judgments that would put an end to stigmatizing national civil society organizations.

The contributions included in the present document on the rule of law in Hungary were submitted to the European Commission in the framework of the targeted stakeholder consultation the European Commission launched in relation to its 2023 Annual Rule of Law Report. The document follows the structure and applies the headings and numbering of the European Commission’s stakeholder consultation survey.

Democracy and civil society have a two-way relationship.

One the one hand, civil society through its diverse roles is an important contributor to upholding and improving democracy: its organisations (CSOs) act as channels and facilitators of citizen engagement, participation and activism, help educate the younger generations and provide services to vulnerable groups so that they can too practice and enjoy the fundamental and human rights that are due to all of us.

On the other, civil society needs a democratic enabling environment to thrive, composed of a stable and beneficial legislation, transparent and unbiased financing, structured dialogue with public institutions and a positive political atmosphere, among others.

The next few days will be all about the elections, and as a CSO it is particularly important that we use the right voice if we want to communicate about the elections. We want to maintain our credibility and reach our target audience with relevant and up-to-date content, while not making our message either forced or didactic.

The outbreak of war in Ukraine has shocked us all. We stand in solidarity with Ukraine and with all the people who have been dragged into war against their will. When the fighting started, our member organisations - along with many others - began to provide immediate assistance, and as the first refugees arrived, CSOs, informal aid groups and enthusiastic volunteers were already lining up to organise humanitarian work.