United States Based Donors are Bankrolling the Hungarian Opposition
Jose Nino
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Several leading critics of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government are apparently receiving substantial funding from the United States.
According to a report by Hungary Today, a foundation that these critics of the Hungarian government are leading is the beneficiary of funding from American-based donors. One Hungarian elected official believes that this kind of funding is tantamount to “abusing the law.”
This foundation features opposition members and conservative rivals of the Orbán government.
Péter Márki-Zay, the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely, a city located in southeast Hungary, and a candidate for prime minister of the joint opposition coalition during Hungary’s parliamentary elections back in April, made a statement regarding donations to his campaign and ties to the US.
This statement has caused a stir among Hungarian media and the general public.
On Magyar Hang’s podcast last week, Márki-Zay revealed that he had only recently obtained the “42,000-rows-long” account of the campaign budget – something he plans to fully publish soon – that reveals how his campaign received several million Hungarian Forint (the Hungarian currency) “from America.” In addition, he said that he did not believe the culturally leftist billionaire George Soros donated to his campaign. He noted that the donations most likely came from “Americans and Hungarians living in America.”
The Márki-Zay revealed that his Everybody’s Hungary Movement (MMM – Mindenki Magyarországa Mozgalom) used the aforementioned funds to pay for the costs his campaign incurred in 2022. Per Márki-Zay, approximately one hundred million HUF (roughly 250,000 Euros) are still left over, which he plans to transfer to his organization’s bank account.
The Hungarian Magyar Nemzet newspaper observed that some of Márki-Zay’s former allies were concerned about the campaign funding and alleged that the politician’s organization kept the “left-over” money. Márki-Zay defended himself and his organization by arguing that they used all the donations in an effort to “topple” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. He vowed to continue this campaign to depose Orbán.
Márki-Zay said that the donations originated from Action for Democracy, an American NGO, which was established in February 2022, right before Hungary’s parliamentary elections.
Action for Democracy has a global mission to fight so-called “illiberal” governments. According to its website, it identifies “key battleground states are places in the world where we think democracy is most threatened and where elections are to take place within the next year that will determine the fate of those democracies.” It listed off states such as Italy, Brazil, Hungary, Poland, and Turkey as areas that could face potential democratic back-sliding. In each of these countries, national conservative parties are in power, with the exception of Italy, who is expected to have a right-wing government in power once the dust settles from its upcoming elections.
The foundation’s advisory council features Hungarian-born American writer and progressive activist Kati Marton. Hungary Today listed off some its key members:
British historian Timothy Garton Ash
American historian Anne Applebaum
Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley K. Clark
American political scientist Francis Fukuyama
Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
Hungarian-born American political scientist Charles Gati
Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia (under the Obama administration) Evelyn Farkas,
Former Clinton-speechwriter Robert Boorstin
Former US Ambassador to Hungary (under the Obama administration) Eleni Kounalakis
American historian Timothy Snyder
Former British Foreign Secretary David Milliband
Mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzakowski
Hong Kong activist Simon Cheng.
In contrast to what Márki-Zay stated during the podcast, Action for Democracy told Magyar Hang that the foundation did not provide campaign funding to anyone. Instead they only supported the Márki-Zays MMM movement “as a civil organization.” The foundation asserted that they held an “intense online fundraiser” and obtained money for this cause from thousands of individuals whose identities were not disclosed as a way to respect their privacy.
István Hollik, the Communications Director of the ruling Fidesz party, said to Magyar Nemzet that the Hungarian government prohibits parties from receiving funding from abroad. In Hollik’s view, Márki-Zay and his coterie “abused the law,” when the funds landed in the account of the organization. Hollik claimed that Action for Democracy “has thousands of ties” to George Soros. The Fidesz-politician claimed that Márki-Zay lied to his voters and raised a rather pointed question: “What did the donors ask for in exchange?”
Hungary is one of the most nationalist countries in Europe. It has a government that’s 100% committed to protecting the historic Hungarian nation. That means it will stand against mass migration, deviant sexual activities, political correctness, and have a non-ideological foreign policy. For these reasons, many people ranging from degenerate globalists to superhawks, will have it in for Hungary.
There’s a concentrated effort among the transnational globalist class to take out Hungary. Thus far, Orbán’s government has successfully beaten back these efforts.
But will Orbán’s government be able to fully institutionalize its anti-globalist ethos? Only time will tell.
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