The head of Hungary’s sovereignty office has asserted that over the past three years, substantial funding from the US and the European Union has supported media outlets across the political spectrum, aiming to undermine Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s conservative government.
Tamas Ransi mentioned that independent media in Hungary might currently be backed by financial assistance from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and related State Department initiatives.
The leader of the Office for Sovereignty Protection described this situation as a globalist attempt at “propaganda,” aimed at dismantling Orban’s position as a key critic of open-border policies and a prominent opponent of the leftist agenda promoted by elites in Brussels and Washington.
Lánczi revealed that the US government and the European Commission provided a combined total of HUF 23 billion (approximately $63.5 million) to the media sector.
“This isn’t a small amount—it’s not coming from readers or voluntary donations. It’s not charity; it’s 23 billion in foreign interventions intended to influence media personnel, activists, and politicians,” he noted in a statement to Magyar Nemzet.
According to watchdog reports, the bulk of this financial support originates from the European Commission, totaling HUF 19.5 billion (around $54 million). Lánczi also indicated that USAID, during the Biden administration, contributed HUF 3.5 billion ($9.7 million) to anti-Orbán media outlets.
The Protection of Sovereignty furthermore alleged that other left-leaning media in Hungary have received funding from the contentious National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a program linked to US foreign influence.
This disclosure could potentially lead to the dismantling of USAID operations following President Donald Trump’s initiatives. In response, Orban has instructed the government to initiate legal measures against NGOs and Hungarian organizations receiving foreign funding, including that from USAID.
“We must now take steps to dismantle these international networks—they must be eradicated,” Orban expressed earlier this year. “We need to make their existence legally untenable.”
“All funds coming from the US must be disclosed, and those who accept them will be held accountable… Foreign influence in Hungarian politics is unacceptable and must be legally prohibited,” he emphasized.
Moreover, US efforts to influence seem not to be constrained to Hungary alone. Reports indicate that the Trump administration’s budget cuts to foreign aid have highlighted recipients such as Stonewall, a leading LGBTQ+ charity in the UK, which reportedly received over $600,000 from the State Department’s Global Equality Fund to advocate for “LGBTI rights globally.”
