{"id":10234,"date":"2026-05-19T13:00:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=10234"},"modified":"2026-05-19T13:00:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:00:55","slug":"romanian-senate-passes-far-right-proposal-forcing-ngos-to-declare-all-sources-of-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=10234","title":{"rendered":"Romanian Senate passes far-right proposal forcing NGOs to declare all sources of funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, the Romanian Senate passed a legislative proposal initiated by the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) under which non-governmental organizations are required to make public all sources of funding and the identity of donors.<\/p>\n

If the bill is adopted as law, the reports regarding an NGO\u2019s financing would be submitted to ANAF, which would have to publish them in a dedicated section on its website. Failure to submit these declarations would trigger automatic suspension of activity and dissolution if non-compliance lasts more than one year.<\/p>\n

Supporters – AUR, PSD<\/h4>\n

The project received a favorable opinion in the Senate Legal Committee with the support of AUR and the Social Democratic Party, or PSD. Senators in the small extremist SOS Romania Party also backed the proposal. In the end, the bill passed the Senate with 75 votes in favor, 32 against, and 4 abstentions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the plenary debates, AUR Senate leader Petri\u0219or Peiu came out on the side of the bill\u2019s supporters. He said that the project is necessary so that Romanians can find out who supported legal actions that have blocked or delayed important energy projects in Romania, such as hydroelectric plants and lignite mining operations. \u201cLet us see who finances such lawsuits, who has an interest in us not having hydroelectric plants in Romania, who has an interest in shutting down lignite quarries in Romania. That is what this bill is about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The only party that did not express any opinion during the plenary was PSD. However, the party\u2019s senators voted alongside AUR in the end. The party leader, Sorin Grindeanu, later defended the law, saying that \u201cif someone is honest, there is no reason to hide,\u201d according to G4Media<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also attacked opponents in USR, highlighting their reputation as champions of transparency.\u00a0\u201cAs long as people donate from that 2% or 3.5%, which would normally go to the state, I consider it public money. I see no issue. What is wrong with being transparent?\u201d Sorin Grindeanu said.<\/p>\n

Far-right allies of the Social Democrats were more direct in their support for the initiative. \u201cVictory in the Senate! We passed the law that provides transparency in NGO funding! Who is bothered by transparency?\u201d said AUR leader George Simion on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Opponents – Center-right parties, NGOs<\/h4>\n

Opponents to the proposals came from center-right parties like the Save Romania Union (or USR), the National Liberal Party (PNL), and the Hungarian minority party UDMR. They pointed out that NGOs already submit all activity and financial reports to the relevant institutions, and that publishing donors\u2019 names violates GDPR legislation. They also warned that once their names become public, donors may become victims of reprisals from those in power or criminal groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cNGOs in Romania have saved lives in hospitals, provided education, and managed humanitarian crises exactly where the state failed. What is the response of this AUR-PSD majority? To treat them as suspicious entities. Transparency is only the cover, while intimidation is the real goal,\u201d said USR senator Simona Sp\u0103taru.<\/p>\n

Critics of the bill also showed that similar legislation existed in countries defined by democratic backsliding, like Hungary under the government of Viktor Orb\u00e1n. After the law was challenged by the European Commission before the Court of Justice of the European Union, Hungary had to repeal it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In turn, NGOs said the state already has access to information about NGO funding and that the new obligations are excessive. Moreover, they argued that suspending an NGO\u2019s activity for failing to submit a declaration and the possibility of dissolving the organization are excessively harsh sanctions.<\/p>\n

In a press release, Save the Children Romania noted that the most significant effect of this initiative would not be increased fiscal transparency, but rather discouraging funding, intimidating donors, stigmatizing NGOs, and creating abusive and disproportionate administrative burdens. These would directly affect the ability to provide essential services to vulnerable children, families in difficulty, and disadvantaged communities, in conditions where socio-educational or medical services cannot fully cover their needs.<\/p>\n

The law is set to go to the Chamber of Deputies, which serves as the decision-making chamber.<\/p>\n

radu@romania-insider.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

(Photo source: Inquam Photos|George Calin)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, the Romanian Senate passed a legislative proposal initiated by the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) under which non-governmental organizations are required to make public all sources of funding and the identity of donors. If the bill is adopted as law, the reports regarding an NGO\u2019s financing would be submitted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}