“Attempts by foreign entities to influence politics has become a growing concern in many democracies” writes Zoltan Kovacs, government spokesman for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

One doesn’t need to delve too deeply into today’s headlines to verify that statement. But what Kovacs is referring to is the foreign NGO community, and not only in Hungary, but in Canada as well.

After being criticized by the Canadian Foreign Minister (as well as the American Ambassador in Budapest) for its efforts, through a new law, to monitor the activities and financing of foreign NGOs in Hungary, Kovacs offered up the example of the growing concern in Canada about the exact same thing. He cites a report in the Calgary Herald that alleges “Electoral outcomes were influenced” by wealthy foreigners.

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The Hungarian government acknowledges “the important role that NGOs play in a democratic society.” But as a sovereign country, Hungary ought to have the right to question and then monitor the activities of guests in their own country.

Kovacs emphasizes that stating “What these and other critics overlook, however, is that NGOs, because of the legitimacy they seem to offer, are increasingly used by foreign interests – with neither democratic mandate nor accountability to the citizens – to influence the internal politics and sometimes election outcomes of a country.”

It’s not just their elections that Canadians are rightly worried about being influenced by foreign money and foreign NGOs. Over on the other side of the Atlantic, in both Macedonia and Albania, their citizens are equally worried about these things plus the interference of foreign NGOs plus the US government through USAID in both the cultural affairs and the governance of those nations.

Perhaps it is just a coincidence, but one thread running through all four of the countries mentioned above is – wait for it – George Soros and his Open Society Foundation and its affiliates.

We spill and spend an awful lot of ink and bytes correctly condemning inference in our elections in the United States. Shouldn’t other countries be allowed to do so without our government condemning and interfering in them?

Jason Miko is currently a senior public relations executive in Tucson, Arizona, who has worked in various capacities in many of the countries of Southeastern Europe since 1992. He lived and worked in Macedonia from 1996 to 2003 as well as much of the aughts, working in humanitarian development and assistance, economic development, and other areas.

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