Foreign Agent Laws in Hungary and Elsewhere — Content Vs Catchphrase

Over the past weeks, international media has been very vocal about the protests happening in Georgia against the draft ´foreign agent law´ in the country. Had the government not backed out on it due to the protests, the law would have allowed Georgia to label media and NGOs who receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad as ´foreign agents´. Not only protestors, but US and EU officials also found the Georgian Dream Party’s initiative objectionable.

To allow it to enter the bloc, the EU demanded that Georgia implement reforms in the area of free speech, media, and civil society. However, the foreign agent law was viewed not as a step forward, but as a step backward by Brussels.

Soon after the Georgian government decided not to implement the controversial legislation, President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik (a Bosnian Serb politician) proposed a very similar bill that would allow Republika Srpska to classify certain NGOs foreign agents. The announcement was seen as controversial by both EU and US leaders. EU officials reminded all that any legislation that might limit the freedom of expression and speech in Bosnia and Herzegovina would stand in the way of the country’s EU accession.