Csaba Dömötör, MEP of Hungary's ruling Fidesz, said that between 2019 and 2023, the European Commission signed at least 37,000 contracts with NGOs worth a total 17 billion euros.

In a statement to the press in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Dömötör added that the list of organisations included "a multitude of organisations that were supposed to be civic, but they were in fact involved in political activities".

"We will publish the list of organisations because everybody has the right to know what European and Hungarian taxpayers' money is spent on," Dömötör said.

"These NGOs do not represent groups in society but promote the interests of a small leftist elite: they echo the commission's position across Europe and weaken the border protection capabilities of member states; in many cases they have started lawsuits against member states in cooperation with immigrants, and organise action against democratically elected governments…" he said.

"Many of these organisations are financed by the European Commission and players overseas, while they do not have a local base of supporters; they are kept alive by a political will rather than locally organised groups of society," Dömötör said. He added that "several thousand of the subsidised organisations" were registered in Brussels.

Meanwhile, the MEP said the European People's Party had recently adopted a resolution urging fast-tracking Ukraine's EU membership and preparation of the community for the next cycle of enlargement, adding that such issues as extra burdens or the impact of Ukraine's accession on public security or European agriculture were not even mentioned.

Dömötör also said that Hungary's opposition Tisza Party "obviously" supported Ukraine's EU accession.