Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the most important task of the spring political season will be uncovering how American money was used to influence Hungarian public opinion while also developing defense mechanisms against such operations.

During an interview on public radio on Friday, PM Orbán noted that the new US administration has released a list of individuals and organizations who have received funding from the US budget in recent years to influence other countries. "We’re also deeply involved in this," he said, arguing that Hungarian "self-proclaimed civil organizations, media outlets, journalists and politicians" had also received donations.

The prime minister said one of the most important tasks in the spring political season would be to uncover how the system worked and how it had influenced government and potentially parliamentary decisions, public opinion, and public life.

"Once we understand all of this, we’ll have to urgently develop and implement defense mechanisms," he said, adding that he did not expect any form of resistance against this because it was up to the government and the parliamentary majority.

PM Orbán said Hungary had to follow the "well-established mechanism" of the US in not just the fact-finding stage but also in defense.