Commercial presentation Update: 04/30/2024 1:18 p.m
Issued by: 04/30/2024, 1:18 p.m
Bratislava – Non-governmental organizations in Slovakia that are financed from abroad should now, with exceptions, also use the designation “organization with foreign support” in their name. This follows from the proposal for an amendment to the relevant law, which was approved by the Slovak Parliament today in the first reading by the votes of government deputies. The Chamber should definitely decide on the draft at its next meeting. The opposition criticized the draft.
Vice-President of the European Commission (EC) Věra Jourová said during her visit to Bratislava last week that the law, if approved in the form presented, would be in conflict with European law. The organization Amnesty International (AI) Slovakia, in response to the vote of the deputies, called the bill an attack on civil society in the country.
In a key second reading, the House will be able to modify the proposal through amendments.
The aforementioned label should be used in Slovakia by those associations that receive contributions exceeding EUR 5,000 (roughly CZK 126,000) from abroad or from another Slovak institution labeled “organization with foreign support” within one year. Money from European funds will not be included in this limit.
The proposal was submitted to the lower house by members of the ruling nationalist Slovak National Party, which is the smallest of the three parties in Prime Minister Robert Fico’s cabinet.
The Slovak opposition, as well as Jourová, compared the draft to the Hungarian law from 2017, which introduced special requirements for non-governmental organizations financed from abroad. The Court of Justice of the EU then ruled in 2020 that this law is in conflict with European Union law.
“This draft law is a direct attack on civil society, including the functioning and independent existence of many non-governmental organizations in Slovakia. Its adoption would impose a disproportionate – and potentially fatal – bureaucratic and financial burden on civil society organizations. Those that survive could be demonized and discredited, which could lead to further restrictions on their activities,” AI Slovakia director Rado Sloboda wrote in response to the MPs’ vote.
Prime Minister Fico has been speaking against part of the non-governmental sector in Slovakia for a long time. Following the victory of his Social Democratic Direction (SD) party in last year’s parliamentary elections, Fico said the era of non-governmental organizations ruling the country was over. Some of the non-governmental organizations in the country have long drawn attention to missteps by authorities and institutions.
Laws targeting NGOs have been in place in Russia for years. According to a legal norm from 2012, the authorities can designate non-governmental organizations that are financed from abroad and that engage in political activity as so-called foreign agents. Later, the regime extended the validity of the standard to the media or individuals. The Russian list includes international organizations such as Transparency International, Greenpeace or the Czech humanitarian organization People in Need.
Slovakia society law parliament 3rd VERSION
Tags: Slovak government coalition label nongovernmental sector financed
-
