Democracy Digest: Huge Military Layoffs in Hungary Spark Talk Of a ‘Purge’

A major scandal rocked opposition parties as it was confirmed that former PM candidate Peter Marki-Zay's Movement for Hungary and some opposition-allied organisations received funds totalling 4 billion forints (10 million euros) from abroad before the April 2022 election. It was Marki-Zay who first spoke about the foreign donations in an interview last August, which triggered an investigation by the Hungarian intelligence services. Key parts of the report were published this week, revealing the opposition alliance received 3 billion forints from US-based Action for Democracy, a civil society organisation led by David Koranyi, former diplomatic advisor to Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony. Another 900 million forints was received from an unnamed Swiss foundation. Marki-Zay argued most were micro-donations, largely from Hungarians living abroad, but the intelligence services said they suspect it was the US Democratic Party behind the funding. "This clearly represents a violation of Hungary's sovereignty, and at the same time raises the suspicion of a violation of the relevant Hungarian legislation," the report read. Fidesz claims the opposition violated Hungarian election law that forbids foreign financing of political parties, though Marki-Zay counters it was a civil society movement (his) and not a political party that was the recipient.

This week gave a glimpse of how compromise-ready the Hungarian government can be when it meets stern resistance. Orban's crew was seemingly taken aback by the European Commission's decision in December to cut universities controlled by  asset management foundations from the European exchange programs Erasmus and Horizon. Some 21 universities - two-thirds of all Hungary's higher education - are now run by these foundations,...