NGOs, such as Via Iuris or Peace for Ukraine, have dubbed the law as Russian-esque because of its implications for the country’s democratic opposition.
“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,” Lucia Stasselová from the Peace for Ukraine initiative, which organizes protests, told POLITICO.
Earlier this month, thousands of Slovaks protested against the bill in more than 30 cities around the country, but also Madrid, Copenhagen and London.
Pushing through the legislation was part of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s long-standing effort to bring NGOs and independent media to heel. Back in 2023, after he was reelected as prime minister for the fourth time, Fico vowed to end “NGO supremacy” in Slovakia.
The European Commission criticized the initial draft bill — which intended to label NGOs as foreign agents — in its 2024 Rule of Law report, warning that it would take legal action if the Slovak government pushed it through.
Fico and his allies say that the legislation is aimed at enhancing transparency, but his political opponents don’t buy that.
“The authors of the bill realized that the original proposal would not comply with EU law, as was the case with a similar law in Hungary, so they found another way to undermine NGOs,” Ondrej Dostál, MP for the right-wing SaS party, said previously, adding that the bill went way beyond changing terminology.
“It’s an attempt to label nongovernmental organizations and give them a negative connotation,” he added.
