There will be a civil chapter in the opposition's programme!

"This is the intention, and there is a fairly broad consensus among the actors", said Gergely Arató, programme coordinator of the six-party opposition alliance, at a research presentation of Political Capital and the Civilisation Coalition, in response to the question whether the situation of the civil sector will receive a separate chapter in the joint opposition programme. The same was promised by Tamás Mellár, co-founder of MMM.

In addition to the politicians, Veronika Móra, director of the Ökotárs Foundation, also participated in the discussion, and briefly presented the Civil Minimum 2022 package of proposals, which may serve as the basis for the civil chapter of the future opposition programme. The CSOs that drafted the document ask parties and politicians, whatever position they take after the elections, to commit themselves to creating and implementing a civic strategy based on the principles and proposed measures listed in the document. Indeed, civil society organisations can only operate freely if the future government guarantees their independence, treats them as partners and commits to protecting people's fundamental civil rights. The proposals have already been sent by the Civilisation Coalition to all parties with at least 1% in the polls. 

The occasion of the roundtable discussion on 1 December was the recently published joint research of Political Capital, a political analysis institute, and the Civilisation Coalition, which coordinates the cooperation of civil society organisations.The research examined the social perception of civil society organisations for the second time after 2019. The presentation of Csaba Molnár (PC), who presented the research, revealed that while many people are still unsure what counts as a CSO, half of those asked could name at least one. Citizens are keen to support causes that are important to them in a variety of ways: two thirds of respondents consider future assistance to be a possibility, and one in three have already supported a CSO in some way.

The results also show that more people than ever before were reached by CSOs during the coronavirus epidemic: one in six people surveyed said they or a relative/acquaintance had received help from a CSO, compared to nearly one in ten in 2019. In a research presentation, the responses of CSOs to the crisis were illustrated by the Civil College Foundation and the Independent Performing Arts Association, using examples from their own organisations.

People see helping those in need as an important task for CSOs, but at the same time, the rejection of many social groups is very high. Responses indicate that they are least willing to support prisoners and most willing to support organisations helping children. Differences in party preferences are also evident here, with Fidesz voters more in favour of helping Hungarians living beyond the border or large families, and opposition voters more in favour of helping LGBT communities, but no such difference in support for Roma or the homeless. The majority of people also think it is important for CSOs to take a stand on public issues.

The full research is available here.

Watch a video of the event here.

The Civil Minimum 2022 is available here.