How Orbán is Turning Hungary into a “Little Russia”
Over the past decade, Hungary has seen a steady erosion of democratic checks and balances, as the government of Viktor Orbán has increasingly adopted methods more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes than of European democracies. Civil society groups, independent schools, charities, and the free press have all come under mounting pressure. Through a mix of restrictive laws, financial controls, and bureaucratic harassment, the state has created an atmosphere of fear and dependency – one that mirrors tactics long used in Russia to silence dissent and consolidate power.
“Foreign funding” laws
Legislation has been introduced that allows NGOs and media watchdogs receiving foreign donations to be listed – in effect blacklisted – as organizations threatening Hungarian sovereignty. Their finances can be placed under strict control, with banking transactions and donations frozen or limited.
Transparency bills used as a stigma
A proposed “public life transparency” law aims to label independent media and NGOs, particularly those funded from abroad, as suspect. The consequences include frozen donations, denied grants, and moral stigmatization that discourages supporters.
The Sovereignty Protection Office
This newly created body monitors NGOs, charities, and media, producing reports that can classify them as security threats. The uncertainty surrounding when and why it might act leaves civil organizations in constant fear of sanction.
Punishment during election campaigns and referenda
During the government’s 2022 referendum on LGBTQ issues, several NGOs were fined simply for campaigning against it. Such measures limit who can participate in public debate – particularly silencing those who criticize government policy.
Content restrictions in education and culture
New laws regulate how LGBTQ topics can appear in education, media, and publishing. Schools, cultural institutions, and even bookshops risk sanctions if they fail to comply, forcing them either to self-censor or face removal of funding.
Media pressure
Independent media outlets face a mixture of stigmatization, legal harassment, and financial obstacles. State regulators and the Sovereignty Protection Office can brand them as “foreign-influenced.” Meanwhile, access to public information is increasingly restricted, limiting the ability of journalists to hold power to account. Actual cases: Pastor Iványi’s Fellowship and trials against opposition leader Magyar.
Pastor Iványi’s Fellowship
The government’s latest target is the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship (MET), a small Protestant church led by pastor Gábor Iványi, a long-time critic of Viktor Orbán.
For more than 30 years, the Fellowship has run shelters and care centres in Budapest that serve some of the city’s most vulnerable homeless people – those with chronic illnesses, amputations, or unable to care for themselves. These centres provide 24-hour admission, meals, medical care, and hygiene facilities.
In September 2025, the Budapest Government Office – directed by a political appointee – began proceedings to shut down MET’s Dankó Street homeless centre, citing “infrastructure problems” such as worn mattresses and the need for repainting. If the licence is revoked within 60 days, 300-400 people could be forced onto the streets just as winter begins. No other institution in the capital has the capacity to house them.
This follows an earlier closure of MET-run schools for disadvantaged and special-needs children, ordered just days before the school year started. Although the Fellowship later won its legal battle, the children had already been dispersed to distant schools, in some cases hundreds of kilometres from their homes.
The conflict between Orbán’s government and Iványi’s Fellowship is not new. The state stripped MET of its official church status more than a decade ago, excluding it from public funds and the right to receive full tax donations. Even after Hungarian and European courts ruled this illegal, authorities refused to renew their service contracts.
Tax authorities have seized more than 2.5 billion forints from the Fellowship.
Yet public support remains strong: in 2025, over 113,000 Hungarians designated their 1% income tax contribution to the Fellowship, ranking it third among all churches – behind only the Catholic and Reformed churches.
Pastor Iványi describes the latest move as a “scorched-earth tactic,” designed to destroy what the Fellowship has built. The organization vows to keep fighting for its schools, shelters, staff, and the hundreds of vulnerable people who depend on them.
The European Parliament pushes back
The concerns about the rule of law in Hungary were also visible in Brussels this week. The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) voted not to lift the parliamentary immunity of three MEPs targeted by Hungarian authorities.
- Péter Magyar, a former government insider turned leading opposition figure, is facing three criminal cases in Hungary: the so-called “phone theft case,” in which he allegedly took a phone from a man who was filming him provocatively and threw it into the Danube, and two separate defamation suits. Hungarian authorities asked the EP to suspend his immunity so the prosecutions could proceed. JURI rejected all three requests, signalling mistrust in Hungary’s judicial process.
- Klára Dobrev, a vice-president of the European Parliament and one of Hungary’s opposition leaders, also faced a request from Hungarian authorities. The committee likewise refused to suspend her immunity.
- Ilaria Salis, an Italian MEP formerly jailed in Budapest as part of the so-called “Antifa trial,” was also protected. The committee explicitly argued that Salis – who spent over a year in harsh Hungarian prison conditions before being elected – could not expect a fair trial in Orbán’s Hungary.
Prime Minister Orbán reacted furiously, calling the decision “a disgrace and a scandal” and claiming that Brussels had become an ally of his domestic opposition.
Hungary’s government uses legal, financial, and administrative tools to weaken or eliminate independent voices in civil society. From stigmatizing laws and punitive fines to shutting down schools and shelters – and even attempting to prosecute opposition leaders abroad. The aim is clear: to silence critics and bring all social institutions under political control.
This combination of domestic repression and confrontation with European institutions is why many observers describe Orbán’s Hungary as increasingly resembling a “Little Russia” inside the EU.
