The state of civil society in the EU and Russia 2016

Summary

In 2016, on behalf of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum Political Capital conducted a research on the state of civil society in Hungary. The report, which was prepared for the first time, covers four EU member states plus Russia. Key areas of the research included the operating environment of civil society organisations (CSOs), challenges ad trends faced by CSOs, and their best practices. The research, which was conducted in each country along the same methodology, consisted of a survey, personal interviews, and the analysis of statistical data and the political, legal and economic environment.

In 2016, the state of CSOs was the worst in Hungary among all EU member states that were subject to the research. Only CSOs from Russia reported on a worse environment. According to the answers, CSOs in Hungary operate in a negative political, legal and financial environment. CSOs had positive experience with regard to media coverage, public opinion and volunteering.

We would like to thank Veronika Móra (Hungarian Environmental Partnership Foundation) and Marcell Lőrincz (Subjective Values Foundation) for reviewing the report’s Hungarian chapter.

The entire report can be downloaded from here and the summary of the report is available here.