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Thousands of Slovaks marched in Bratislava and Košice to protest an amendment to the government’s draft NGO bill that they have likened to Russia’s foreign agent law.
If passed, the amendment would classify nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that directly or indirectly influence politicians as lobbyists, and require them to prepare a transparency report disclosing information about who has gifted them more than €5,000 in a year.
Further protests across more than 30 Slovak cities — as well as in London, Madrid and Copenhagen — are planned for Friday.
Pushing through this legislation is part of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s long-standing effort to bring NGOs and independent media to heel.
Back in 2023, Fico vowed to end the “NGO supremacy” in Slovakia by introducing a law that would label them as foreign agents if they are funded from abroad. The amendment is currently in second reading in the Bratislava legislature.
That did not go down well with the European Commission, which warned Slovakia in its 2024 Rule of Law report that if the government pushes ahead with the original bill, the EU will take immediate legal action.
Multiple NGOs and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have condemned the bill.
Lucia Stasselová from the initiative Peace for Ukraine, which organizes protests across the country, called the legislation “a tool to systemically dismantle civil society.”
“This law is copied from Russia, where similar legislation has been used to destroy independent organizations, imprison opposition figures, silence the media, and impose repression. We refuse to let Slovakia follow this path,” she said.
Fico said he respects people’s right to protest, but dismissed the comparison with the Russian foreign agent bill.
“The draft law concerning nongovernmental organizations has nothing to do with Russian, American or Israeli legislation,” Fico said after a government meeting on Wednesday, adding that it is a “European law that has been consulted.”
“They’ve run out of things to protest about, so now they’re just making up another lie,” he added.
Stasselová said that the most dangerous aspect of the law is that it discredits NGOs that receive foreign funding in the eyes of the public.
“It stigmatizes and criminalizes NGOs receiving foreign funding, even if the funds come from the EU or grants supporting education, environmental protection, or anti-corruption efforts,” she said.
“The government would gain the authority to interfere in their operations, impose fines, or even shut them down,” she added.
Her words were echoed by MP Ondrej Dostál from center-right Freedom and Solidarity party. “It’s an attempt to label nongovernmental organizations and give them a negative connotation … The authors of the bill realized that the original proposal would not comply with EU law … so they found another way to discredit nongovernmental organizations.”
Hungary passed a similar law in 2017, but had to repeal it in 2023 after the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled it illegal.
The right-wing nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS), who proposed the amendment, did not reply to a request to comment. The bill is set to be discussed in parliament on April 9.
