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EU warns Slovakia against 'foreign agents' law
2024-07-24 21:42:14 / BOTA
The European Commission has warned Slovakia that it will take immediate legal action if the government moves forward with a proposed law that would require non-governmental organizations receiving funding from abroad to register as "foreign-supported organisations".
"I was in Bratislava and I made it very clear," European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said on Wednesday, shortly before the publication of the annual report on the rule of law in the EU.
"If you follow the Hungarian example for the law on Non-Governmental Organizations, we will immediately start a procedure (for violating the law in the EU), because we already have the decision of the (European Court of Justice) on the table," she added.
Hungary passed a similar law on foreign-funded NGOs in 2017, but repealed it in 2021 after the European Court of Justice ruled it illegal, Reuters writes.
The European Commission is clashing with Hungary over rule of law issues and has blocked EU funding for it. Budapest also unsettled its bloc partners at the start of its six-month EU presidency with Prime Minister Viktor Orban's "peace mission" that included talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Similar legal battles with Poland ended after the Polish government changed last year.
The EU's annual report on the rule of law covers issues related to the judicial system, corruption, media freedom and other areas such as civil society. The report offers non-binding recommendations for all 27 member countries of the bloc.
Ms. Jourova further said that member countries have adhered to at least partially, about two-thirds of the 2023 recommendations.
On the judiciary, Hungary has undertaken reforms that will allow it to unlock up to €10 billion of EU development aid.
The European Commission expects more moves for media freedoms and pluralism when a European Media Freedom Act comes into force in August 2025.
But Commission officials say they have seen more government pressure on civil society groups in some EU countries.
"Of course the situation is different in each member country, but this is a very worrying trend," said a bloc official.
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