Slovakia's ruling nationalist-populist coalition plans to introduce controversial Hungarian-style NGO regulations, raising concerns about transparency and fears of increased bureaucracy and repression of civil society.
"I don't give a penny to outsiders!" The slogan was plastered across Slovakia by the far-right Republic party ahead of last year's elections. It was not enough to get Republic into parliament, but it has been partly appropriated by the government anyway. Already in its programme for government, Robert Fico’s ruling coalition announced legal changes that concern non-governmental organisations. But for a better idea of its plans, one need only look at the recently published draft amendment prepared by the Slovak National Party (SNS), the coalition’s ultra-nationalist junior partner.
Among the most important changes introduced by this amendment are the labelling as "foreign-supported organisation" all NGOs whose annual income from abroad exceeds €5,000 (except for those that receive EU funds exclusively); an obligation on them to publish the names of all donors, both individuals and organisations; and a provision to dissolve NGOs for administrative irregularities, albeit after an appeal.
Hungarian inspiration
The planned legislation has been roundly denounced by Slovakia's civil society. In the words of Marcel Zajac, chair of the Government Council for NGOs, "this law is a stick to beat citizens with – it makes fundamental distinctions between different forms of private capital, it stigmatises civil society, and it also means an intolerable increase in bureaucracy".
In contrast, the amendment's drafters argue that it is in the public interest because it increases the transparency of the so-called third sector. There is indeed a legitimate debate to be had on how to boost that transparency. But the SNS proposal has multiple problems: in particular, there has been no discussion with stakeholders, and the declared justification looks much like a pretext for making life uncomfortable for inconvenient NGOs.
Comparing the proposed amendment with a similar Hungarian law, the influence of Hungary’s self-proclaiming “illiberal” prime minister Viktor Orbán's version is striking. According to the Platform for Democracy, the two provisions are "very similar, indeed almost identical". Indeed, in terms of the power given to the interior ministry to dissolve certain types of organisation without judicial oversight, the SNS's draft law is the harsher of the two.
For its part, the European Court of Justice has raised serious objections to the Hungarian draft law. It found that it was contrary to European law precisely because of the disproportionate means by which the stated aim of making the third sector more transparent was to be achieved.
"Social democracy" and civil society
Smer (Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico's left-wing nationalist party) and Hlas-SD (“Voice Social Democrats”, a likeminded coalition partner) were recently expelled from the Party of European Socialists. At issue were Fico's rhetoric and the cooperation with SNS. In response Smer deployed its traditional defence: the real reason for the suspension, it said, was the refusal of "Slovak social democracy" to pursue a progressive agenda on gender and sexual minorities. However, particularly in the case of Smer, there has clearly been a broader betrayal of traditional social democratic values. That is evident in the party's indiscriminate rhetoric towards civil society.
Indeed, it is not just voluntary organisations that have come in for attack. For instance, people who had expressed their disapproval of culture minister Martina Šimkovič were branded "spiritually bereft" by the prime minister. And a civic collection for ammunition for Ukraine was sniped at by the prime minister in a tasteless remark.
Although the government takes care to distinguish between "political" and other NGOs, that distinction is artificial: all organisations promoting interests in the public space are political. That these interests might contradict political power is therefore to be expected, and should not be treated as corrosive.
Government is inherently in the more powerful position, and so should not impose its authority until all other options have been exhausted (and then only within the limits of legitimacy and accountability derived from elections). The media and civil society, some of which the government regards as its enemies, are in fact important checks and balances on power in a representative democracy.
Instead of accepting criticism, the approach of the current coalition is to reject the basic democratic principle of open and reasoned debate. Far from being a "dike against extremism" the government is becoming the channel that brings extremism directly into the mainstream.
The culture ministry joins in
Even the unprecedented shooting at the Tepláren gay bar in Bratislava in October 2022 was not enough to cool down the aggressive rhetoric which – not only among politicians of the current government – is often directed at gender and sexual minorities. An especially big wave of sympathetic resentment was sparked by a "poll" on the official Facebook profile of the Ministry of Culture. In it, people were asked whether the state should support the restoration of cultural monuments or "LGBTI+ events where underage children are taught how to perform at a sex show".
The practical implications of sorting the public into higher- and lower-class citizens have been most evident during Martina Šimkovičová's tenure as current Minister of Culture. Two draft laws are due shortly that concern important institutions under the jurisdiction of the culture ministry. One of them would transform the Fund for the Promotion of Arts to enable it to better fight for "national culture, not the culture of transsexuals and perversion" (in the praiseful words of Fico).
In another, SNS proposes to abolish the public broadcaster RTVS and replace it with a "state media". The government believes that the journalism of RTVS is biased and even that it violates human rights. This legislative offensive is meeting with resistance from the employees affected, as well as from specialist sections of the public.
In response to the ministry's escalation, Slovakia's cultural community is organising on the platform Open Culture. In addition to petition actions, a solidarity network is being set up to bring together organisations and people working in culture. RTVS employees made themselves heard at an opposition protest which attracted around 4,000 people, and the planned changes to the broadcaster were also rejected by more than 85,000 signatories to a citizens' petition against the "hijacking".
Slovakian civil society faces a stress test
Slovakia's most recent parliamentary elections brought some relief. The neo-Nazi People's Party Our Slovakia dropped out of parliament and its successor Republic did not get in. But this was mainly a symbolic defeat for the far right. Members of these parties, or people who ran for office through them, are now working in ministries or heading them outright. Peter Weiss, a veteran left-wing nationalist close to Hlas-SD who today is among the coalition's critics, openly says that the coalition's fig leaf – Hlas-SD leader and newly elected head of state Peter Pellegrini and his party – has itself succumbed to the SNS-inspired populist vision that is animating the government's ideology and policy.
After the European elections in June, elections are not scheduled in Slovakia until a combined regional and local vote in 2026. In the coming two and a half years, what will matter above all will be the tenacity of civil society. Can it defend the importance of pluralistic power and the possibility of grassroots politics against the government's perilous promise of peace and unity?
In cooperation with voxeurop.eu.
The views and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union.
This article first appeared here: eu.boell.org
