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Speech by Veronika Móra, Director of the Ökotárs Foundation, at the demonstration against the adoption of the opressive "transparency" bill on 18.05.2025 at Kossuth Square.

Statement issued by the Civil Society Europe, signed by Ökotárs among 570+ CSOs. Full text of the statement:

The European Commission has today published its 2025 work programme, including a pledge to introduce a Civil Society Strategy — a historic decision that follows years of campaigning by the European Civic Forum and organisations across the EU. In the context of widespread attacks on the non-profit sector, the announcement could not come at a more important time.

Civil society organizations are often stigmatised for their engagement in public affairs. They are harassed by authorities to keep active citizens in uncertainty and fear. Thie same is happening now with Átlátszónet and Göd-Ért Association. We stand by our gratees, and give them all the help they need.

We take a review of ongoing EU policy initiatives of recent years that are relevant to civil society. The event is part of the Hungarian Civil EU Presidency.

Following approval by the US Embassy in Budapest, the decision on the applications received for the 3rd call for proposals has been made by Mérték Media Monitor and the Ökotárs Foundation.

The Grant's purpose was to enable media professionals to produce new, high-quality content, get more professionalized, implement their ideas to a high technical standard and secure their operations from both a legal and administrative point of view. 

We held a commemorative gathering to mark the tenth anniversary of the illegal house raid at Ökotárs to raise awareness of the shrinking civic space in Hungary over the past ten years and to thank our colleagues for their dedicated work.

STATEMENT UPR Pre-session on

HUNGARY

Geneva, 6-7 October 2021

Delivered by: Ökotárs – Hungarian Environmental Partnership Foundation

1. Presentation of the Organisation

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.

Every year hundreds of thousands of people participate in the European Tree of the Year contest.

Over the past months, the Hungarian government and pro-government media has published numerous malicious rumors viewing Ökotárs, its partners and the activities of the EEA/Norwegian NGO Fund in a bad light. These rumors include heavy, sometime contradictory accusations against us and even these are constantly changing