CZECH REPUBLIC: Civic space under pressure from funding cuts and policy shifts by the new right-wing government
The new Czech state budget, presented in February 2026 by the newly elected far-right government led by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, included several worrying proposals for civil society. The budget proposal includes drastic cuts to grant programmes across several ministries that are implemented through CSOs. The most severe reductions affect funding under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where support for international development cooperation and humanitarian assistance, including aid to Ukraine, has been largely cut. Funding cuts have also been introduced under the Ministry of Environment, with approximately one-third of funding removed from programmes supporting environmental education and protection. The government aims to stop funding environmental justice organisations that allegedly “block development and investment”. Funding for migrant integration under the Ministry of Interior has also been reduced, alongside further cuts reported across other ministries.
At the same time, the Government Programme outlines several proposals that raise concerns about the legal and operating environment for civil society. It introduces the concept of “political non-profit organisations”, a framing that delegitimises civil society advocacy. The programme also proposes new transparency obligations specifically targeting CSOs, even though they are already subject to extensive registration, reporting and financial requirements. In addition, the government aims to “prevent public money from being used for political activism” and plans to forbid state-funded CSOs from advocating for political issues with public money. These selective measures risk creating unequal conditions, increasing administrative burdens and being used to stigmatise civil society, rather than addressing existing shortcomings in transparency and public administration.
Particularly alarming are plans to introduce mandatory labelling of foreign funding for CSOs engaged in political activities. The government plans to create a public registry of all CSOs that receive public funding, with an obligation to report on the organisation’s expenditures. CSOs that carry out political advocacy and receive foreign funding will have to clearly disclose the receipt of foreign funding. These proposals resemble the foreign agent laws in authoritarian countries, such as Russia, Hungary, and Georgia. In a joint statement signed by 147 organisations, civil society stresses that such measures would stigmatise lawful funding sources, including EU funds, and would likely breach EU and international standards, including freedom of association and expression and create a chilling effect on civic engagement in Czechia.