Hungary.

[TsarSamuil]

Hungarian Jew Traitor's Email to Hillary Clinton Revealed!

Kittensinurface
Jul 12, 2016



Why is it that influential Jews are obsessed with toppling the conservative Hungarian government? Why do they have connections with the US government? Why do they want to enforce extreme liberal policies in Hungarian schools and society?

Here is the email Iván Fischer sent to Hillary Clinton, warning her about the "evil" Hungarian conservative government:
valasz.hu/data/cikk/11/6364/cikk_116364/Fischer_Ivan.pdf

[TsarSamuil]

Dozens of Hungarian award recipients return orders to protest ‘racist’ journalist’s receipt of same.

RT.com
23 Aug, 2016 10:36

Over 40 Hungarian public figures that have received the country’s third-highest decoration in the past have returned their orders in protest of the government awarding it to a controversial rightwing journalist who has been deemed racist by his critics.

Zsolt Bayer, 53, was among several Hungarians who were awarded the Order of Merit of the Knight’s Cross by President Janos Ader last Thursday. However, the decision to honor the controversial figure sparked a wave of protest among left-leaning recipients of the decoration who see him as racist and anti-Semite, and dozens decided to return their awards rather than be found in the same group as Bayer.

The prominent journalist, who writes columns for the pro-government Magyar Hirlap daily, as well as in his own blog, is notorious in Hungary for his strongly worded comments targeting various minorities, which are sometimes seen as crossing the line.

The newspaper was fined in 2013 over an anti-Roma piece in which Bayer called them “animals unfit for coexistence” in response to several violent crimes involving Roma people, including the lynching of a driver by a Roma crowd. Years later, the newspaper was fined again for publishing remarks in which Bayer claimed that all refugee boys over 14 are “potential” terrorists.

Commenting on Bayer’s award, businessman Andras Polgar, one of those returning the order, said “The state feels it is appropriate to lift racist criminals onto a pedestal… it is impossible to tolerate this with a sober, decent conscience,” as cited by Hungarian Free Press.

András Heisler, leader of Hungary’s main Jewish community organization and another recipient returning his decoration, said Bayer “harbors burning anti-Gypsy sentiment” and that he “pollutes Hungary with ideas that are fit to destroy the nation.”

The headline of one of the articles criticizing the move read: “By mistake Zsolt Bayer received lovagkereszt (the cross of the knight) instead of horogkereszt (the swastika).”

The Hungarian government defended its decision, saying that Bayer had been awarded for his work protecting victims of communist oppression in Hungary.

Prominent historian Mária Schmidt, who is the director of the Hungarian capital’s House of Terror Museum, said on her Facebook page: “The Knight’s Cross was received by the Christian crusader who does not allow us to lose our values, traditions, sensibilities, and common sense! I congratulate Zsolt Bayer on his Knight’s Cross!”

Bayer has close ties with the Hungarian government. He was among the 37 Hungarian students that founded the now-ruling Fidesz party back in 1988, and is a personal friend of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Both have made critical remarks about the European Union and the way it is handling the refugee crisis.

[TsarSamuil]

‘Black sheep’ no more: Hungary PM says relations with US to improve under Trump.

RT.com
25 Nov, 2016 16:31

The position of Budapest on Washington's foreign policy list has apparently "improved remarkably," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, following a phone conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump.

"Donald Trump has made it clear that he regards Hungary highly," Orban told his country’s leading business daily, Vilaggazdasag, on Friday, as quoted by Reuters.

"I spoke on the phone with the new US president and I can say that our position has improved remarkably," the Hungarian PM said.

Having expressed certainty that the two nations' diplomatic ties could improve with the incoming US leader, Orban said he had been invited to Washington for talks, although no date was specified.

"I told him [Trump] that I have not been there [to Washington] for a long time as I was regarded as a ‘black sheep,’" he told the daily, adding that his remarks apparently made Trump laugh, as he replied that "so was he."

The Hungarian billionaire investor-turned-politician, who has been in power since 2010, was among the first in Europe to announce his clear preference for the Republican candidate during the race for the White House. He also said that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton would be "deadly" for Hungary.

During her time as US secretary of state, Clinton expressed concerns over democratic freedoms in Hungary under Orban. Later, several Hungarian officials were banned from entering the US over corruption allegations.

Shortly after Trump's win, Orban said the election result marked the end of a two-decade period of "liberal non-democracy" in the West. Calling the US vote "a historic event," Orban said that "Western civilization appeared to successfully break free from the confines of an ideology."

Orban also said Trump was "not ideologically limited" but rather "much more interested in results... than political theories," and the PM expressed hopes for better relations between the two countries – which are NATO allies – adding that "it was only ideologies that posed obstacles" for cooperation.

[TsarSamuil]

Hungarian Muslims slam town’s ban on burkas & construction of mosques.

RT.com
29 Nov, 2016 16:27

A major Muslim organization in Hungary has hit out at the “increasing xenophobia and serious Islamophobia” in a town that recently banned the construction of mosques and the wearing of burkas – allegedly to prevent large-scale immigration.

Home to about 4,000 people, Asotthalom made the headlines after its right-wing mayor, Laszlo Toroczkai, filmed a cringeworthy Hollywood-style video in which he protects the southern border with Serbia from immigrants with a few trusted men by his side. This shot him to prominence in 2015, at the height of the European migrant crisis.

The current ban, on top of a 'no' to the construction of mosques, also includes readings by muezzins at prayer times, the wearing of all forms of veil – including the burkini – and the promotion of LGBTQ identities.

The mayor unveiled the new regulations in a Facebook post dated November 23. He explained the move saying this was to “protect the community and its traditions from any mass settlement from outside” as “more than 90 percent of refugees are Muslim.”

Toroczkai, also a leading figure in the country’s far-right Jobbik party, has maintained that the ruling is intended to “protect the community and its traditions from any mass settlement from outside.”

Hungary officially said this summer that more than 19,000 migrants and refugees have arrived on its soil this year – 14,000 of whom did so illegally.

The mayor’s statement has left the Hungarian Islamic Community (MIK) in shock at “the increasing xenophobia and serious Islamophobia in Hungary, which has now peaked with the decree.” The group also said that it had made a written request to the constitutional court to examine the decree, according to Hungarian news portal Index.Hu.

The group explained that despite being a minority, Hungarian Muslims are Hungarians all the same, and should enjoy the same constitutional protection as other citizens.

“We cannot ‘go home’ anywhere as this is our homeland,” the statement also says, as cited by the Guardian. A letter sent to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a fierce critic of the EU’s immigration policy, did not receive a response, according to MIK.

Founded in 1990, MIK is the oldest group in Hungary representing Muslims, and has an estimated 40,000 members. Interestingly, 2011 census statistics put the total population of Muslims in Hungary at only 5,579.

The Hungarian Greek Catholic Church, by contrast, has more than 326,000 members.

Last month, Hungary held a referendum on asylum seeker quotas. Although 98.3 percent of the voters said they did not want the EU dictating the rules, they did not reach the required turnout of 50 percent, thus invalidating the vote.

This did not stop Orban from going before parliament to report that he is “initiating an amendment to the constitution,” without providing further details. But this was not enough for the anti-immigrant Jobbik party, whose leader, Gabor Vona, told Orban at the National Assembly: “You will not be taken seriously by Brussels bureaucrats. Brussels will ruthlessly exploit your irresponsibility and mistake.”

The Hungarian PM has been a stubborn opponent of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who insists that EU states are obliged to share the burden of taking in refugees that have been arriving in Europe during the ongoing migrant crisis.

Orban said that Muslim migrants from the Middle East and North Africa will pose a security risk for the mainly Christian Hungary.

According to Orban, accepting or rejecting migrants is a matter of national sovereignty, and Hungary has already erected two fences to keep illegal migrants out. The country lies on the so-called ‘Balkan route’ into Europe, through Serbia, which was also feeling the strain of being used as a gateway.

The crisis itself began at the end of 2014, and saw more than 1 million refugees and migrants arrive to the EU, with numbers dropping slightly this year. Hungary has been adamant in its opposition to following EU regulations on migrant quotas. In August, Orban decided to dispatch more than 3,000 new police officers to patrol the borders with Serbia and Croatia.

[TsarSamuil]

Soros-funded NGOs should be ‘swept out’ of Hungary – deputy chief of ruling party.

RT.com
11 Jan, 2017 21:38

All civil society organizations financed by billionaire George Soros should be “swept out” of Hungary, the vice chairman of the ruling Fidesz party, Szilard Nemeth, declared.

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs), such as Transparency International, financed by billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Foundation ought to be banned from operating in Hungary, Nemeth said at a news conference Tuesday, according to Hir TV. The official claimed that Soros and his NGOs were “pushing global big capital and a related political correctness into Hungary.”

"These organizations must be pushed back with all available tools, and I think they must be swept out, and now I believe the international conditions are right for this with the election of the new president [Donald Trump],” said Nemeth.

In September, Nemeth, who is also the deputy chairman of Hungary’s National Security Committee, said he submitted a list of 22 organizations “connected to the Soros network for the purpose of having these organizations screened.”

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is the leader of populist right-wing party Fidesz, takes a similarly dim view of Soros’s political activities. In an interview with the internet portal 888.hu in December, Orban said that 2017 would bring “about the extrusion of George Soros and the forces symbolized by him.”

“In every country, they will want to displace Soros,” Orban told journalists. “This can already be seen in Europe. They investigate where the money comes from, what kind of intelligence connections there are, which NGOs represent what interests.”

Hungarian lawmakers are soon set to debate a bill allowing authorities to audit the executives of NGOs, something which is to date reserved to the MPs and public officials in the country. A respective proposal has appeared on the newly published parliamentary agenda for 2017.

But despite this and Nemeth’s statements, the Open Society Foundation, which according to Reuters funds over 60 NGOs in Hungary, has pledged to continue its work in the country.

“The Open Society Foundation will continue to work in Hungary despite government opposition to our mission of fairer, accountable societies,” the organization’s president, Christopher Stone, wrote in an email to Bloomberg. “In Hungary and around the world we are more focused than ever on working with local groups to strengthen democratic practice, rights, and justice.”

The Open Society Foundation was set up by Hungarian-born Soros between the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Orban himself received a grant from one of Soros’ foundations to study politics at Oxford University’s Pembroke College in 1989 (which he has since pledged to repay). Orban has accused Soros of undermining European borders and values by helping facilitate the flow of refugees and asylum seekers from the Middle East and elsewhere.

[TsarSamuil]

Soros-funded NGOs aiming to bring down Hungarian govt – foreign minister to RT.

RT.com
30 Jan, 2017 16:34



The activities of organizations funded by US billionaire investor George Soros in Hungary are “anti-democratic,” as they want to undermine the government in Budapest, the foreign minister of Hungary told RT.

Soros “would like this government to fail, he would like to kind of fire this government because he doesn’t like our approach, doesn’t like our policies,” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told RT’s Sophie Shevardnadze.

“We find it very anti-democratic if someone from abroad would like to influence Hungarian voters on whom to vote for,” he asserted.

Several days before the interview, the Hungarian parliament began to discuss a bill allowing authorities to audit NGO executives and request detailed reports on their foreign donations.

Earlier in January, chairman of the ruling Fidesz party Szilard Nemeth said that “these organizations must be pushed back with all available tools, and I think they must be swept out, and now I believe the international conditions are right for this with the election of the new president [Donald Trump].”

Last September, Nemeth, who is also the deputy chairman of Hungary’s National Security Committee, submitted a list of 22 NGOs “connected to the Soros network for the purpose of having these organizations screened.”

Foreign Minister Szijjarto said it is obviously the right of his country to be protected from foreign influence. “This is what we have heard a lot from the US for the last months – that external influence is so dangerous… So, it’s a good reason – if this is the American position, it can be our position as well.”

Hungary, which lies at the very heart of Europe, last year became a main passageway for hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees eager to reach northern European countries. The government, led by right-wing President Viktor Orban, responded by erecting fences along Hungary’s borders and introducing strict border controls. Budapest has consistently refused EU-backed mandatory resettlement quotas, calling them a blow to member states’ sovereignty.

Szijjarto cited intelligence reports alleging that “there were organizations which helped illegal migrants find ways to Hungary, to find where they could violate our border, to find out how to apply for asylum status, and these reports have said that George Soros was in the background of these organizations.”

Countries to Hungary’s east and south are concerned about Soros’ operations, too. In Macedonia, an organization called Stop Operation Soros (SOS) has been launched. Its founder, Nikola Srbov, accused Soros of hijacking civil society, calling upon followers to “fight against one-mindedness in the civil sector, which is devised and led by Soros,” according to Vecer newspaper.

Russian prosecutors branded the Open Society Foundation (OSF), a major Soros asset, and Open Society Institute’s Assistance Foundation threats to the country’s constitutional order and national security in 2015, and banned them from providing grants to Russian partners.

Groups run by Soros have also been accused of meddling in Ukrainian affairs and supporting the 2013 Euromaidan protests that led to the ouster of democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovich.

[TsarSamuil]

Putin visits PM Orban to talk business with Euroskeptic Hungary.

RT.com
2 Feb, 2017 05:25

Vladimir Putin is paying a return visit to Budapest, a year after Viktor Orban’s trip to Moscow set the tone for enhanced bilateral cooperation. The two leaders, similarly unpopular in Brussels, are set to discuss current and prospective mutually lucrative trade deals.

The visit comes during tense times between the EU and Russia, which is facing an ongoing sanction regime coupled with an unprecedented NATO troop buildup on its borders. The global geopolitical situation is, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, however, way more favorable than during Putin’s previous visit to the country in 2015.

Putin’s first official trip in 2017 is set to bolster bilateral agreements reached during Orban’s February 2016 visit to Moscow. The two leaders are expected to focus on joint economic and trade projects, according to Kremlin.

Putin and Orban will also likely discuss cooperation within the frameworks of the Nord Stream and Turkish stream gas pipeline projects, Russia’s presidential aide, Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Wednesday.

About 85 percent of Hungary’s gas flows in from Russia. In 2015, Putin and Orban signed a new gas agreement replacing a 20-year contract that had expired in December 2015. Hungary pays only for gas it actually consumes under the agreement, which proved to be very lucrative for low-demand consumers.

Another key issue, which is expected to be discussed during the visit is the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant. Russia and Hungary signed an agreement on the construction of two additional reactors in January 2014. Eighty percent of the project’s cost will be funded by a €10bn credit line from Russia, and work will be performed by Russian nuclear scientists. Budapest is currently awaiting approval of the project by EU bureaucrats who have been blocking it.

The Hungarian PM has been classed as the ‘black sheep’ of European politics because of his views on key EU issues, which frequently contradicts the mainstream establishment view. Orban’s skepticism towards the so called ‘open-borders’ policy and anti-Russia agenda has drawn criticism from many bigwigs on both sides of the Atlantic.

The European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, publicly greeted Orban as “the dictator” at the Eastern Partnership summit in 2015.

While US Republican Senator John McCain even went as far as to brand the Hungarian PM a “neo-fascist dictator” in a December 2014 Senate address.

Orban insists that he simply wants what’s good for his country, and that he “would not be a viceroy in Hungary commissioned by some foreign state.” His views on migration policy and desire to actually control his country’s borders proved to be quite visionary and realistic considering Europe’s migrant crisis.

While Budapest went along with the EU sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine, it has been criticizing Brussels’ anti-Russia stance ever since. Ahead of Putin’s visit, the Hungarian Foreign Minister reiterated that position.

“Hungary's position on the [anti-Russian] sanctions is that [they are] useless,” Szijjarto told Reuters.

In 2014, Orban said Europe “shot itself in the foot” as the sanctions policy “causes more harm to us than to Russia.” Szijjarto’s assessment appears to be spot on as his country’s economic losses amounts to billions of dollars.

“According to our estimates, the loss of profit for Hungary amounts to $6.5 billion over the last three years,” Szijjarto told Kommersant daily. “We are speaking about exports. Given that the annual volume of Hungarian exports is about $90 billion, the losses are biting.”

[TsarSamuil]

Orban Drives Out Central European University.

Novinite.com
Society » EDUCATION | March 29, 2017, Wednesday // 16:29

The Central European University (CEU) announced on Tuesday evening that Hungary’s government has submitted a draft bill for amendments to higher education which will make it impossible for the institution to function in Budapest. CEU headquarters have been based in Budapest for the last 25 years, reported AP and BTA.

Under the amendments, submitted to Parliament on Tuesday, foreign universities must have a campus in both Hungary and their own country. Higher education institutions will have to comply with the new requirements by February 15, 2018.

Besides, the amendments revoke the right of the university to appoint professors from countries outside the EU without a working visa and require that CEU change its name. At the moment, CEU operates only in the Hungarian capital; it has around 1,400 students, while professors and staff come from over 131 countries.

“The university will gain zero educational benefits from opening a campus in the state of New York and it will suffer unnecessary losses of financial and human resources,” read the announcement of the institution which claims that the legislation proposed is “targeted directly against CEU and, therefore, it is discriminatory and unacceptable”. CEU calls for the amendments to be rejected.

In his statement, Michael Ignatieff, President and Rector of CEU, states that the shutting down of the higher-education institution founded by George Soros “will harm Hungary’s academic life and will have a negative effect on the relations of Hungary’s government” with its neighbours, EU members and the USA

The government insists that its purpose is only to uphold the law and make sure that everyone upholds it.

“The legal amendments are for everybody, so CEU has to respect these,” explained the spokesperson of the Hungarian government Zoltán Kovács, cited by Reuters.

Ignatieff stated that he has offered the government negotiations on finding a satisfactory resolution which will allow CEU to continue operating in Budapest.

“We will energetically defend our achievements against anyone who is trying to vilify our work in the eyes of the Hungarian people,” said the rector.

CEU was founded in 1991, while Open Society has operated in the country since the beginning of the transition. Scholarships for several politicians from the ruling party Fidesz have been financed via Soros’ organisation.

Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban has also received a scholarship from Soros but is lately very critical of the philanthropist of Hungarian origin whom he accuses of wanting to influence Hungary’s policy and of supporting mass migration towards Europe.

[TsarSamuil]

George Soros and Viktor Orbán go to war in Budapest.

Bryan MacDonald, RT
8 Apr, 2017 13:46

Hungary’s pressure on George Soros’ Budapest university is about more than the future of one school. It’s part of an ideological battle which will dominate European and North American discourse in the coming years.

Whatever you might say about Viktor Orbán, he’s a fast and decisive mover. Last Sunday, when thousands demonstrated in Budapest against his proposal to tighten regulation on foreign universities, marchers spoke of a lengthy campaign of resistance. Two days later, it was a done deal. Orbán had rushed the bill through parliament, displaying an efficiency Angela Merkel would admire, if she didn’t distrust him for other reasons.

His target was Soros, Hungary’s wealthiest son, who has become a hate figure for nationalists across Europe. And a man who divides a country. Many Hungarians admire Soros's philosophy and see him as a benefactor. However, more again see his influence as nefarious and reject his ethos of globalist Atlanticism.

For liberals, Hungary has been a huge disappointment. Because, back in the early 90’s, it was considered the most westernized of the ex-Warsaw pact states. And only 20 years ago, the Socialist Party and the Alliance of Free Democrats held an overwhelming majority in parliament. Yet, with the country facing bankruptcy, they were forced to implement a hugely unpopular austerity package that allowed Orbán’s Fidesz party to jump from 20 to 148 seats in the 1998 election. For the next decade, the two blocs fought a close battle until the latter took control in 2010, with the Socialists mortally wounded by accusations of rampant corruption, which even led to riots.

Changing his tune

Since then, Orbán used his huge 2010 majority to change the constitution and has proven himself something of a chameleon. For instance, he has simultaneously cultivated close relations with both Vladimir Putin and Poland’s hyper-patriotic government. And although Russian companies have won significant contracts in the transportation and energy sectors, every time anti-Moscow sanctions have come before the European Union, Budapest has faithfully backed them.

Inside the EU, Hungary’s attitude to migrants has often created outrage. For instance, when Angela Merkel was opening Germany’s doors, Orbán was constructing a wall to keep the newcomers out. However, Fidesz, politically connected to Merkel’s CDU movement through Brussels’ European People's Party grouping, has paradoxically proven to be its most loyal supporter in European parliament votes. Fidesz MEPs vote “98 percent with us - even more than the Germans," an EPP official told Politico this week. This displays the genius of Orbán’s double game.

Because while he’s been busy dismantling liberal democracy in Hungary, EU grant aid has kept rolling in, averaging 2.4 percent of GDP from 2004-2014. And discontent in Brussels has been measured in murmurs, rather than roars. Even the Americans seem relatively quiet, meekly observing this week how Washington is “disappointed by the accelerated passage of legislation targeting (the) Central European University.” At the same time, his government's overtures to Donald Trump, which it considers a like-minded potential ally, have been met with silence.

No Time Like Present

While everybody knows that Orbán’s obvious desire is to clip Soros’ wings, the actual legislation itself is slightly more vague. It forces foreign universities to close unless there’s a bilateral agreement in place between Hungary and their “home” government and they have a campus abroad. In the case of the Central European University, the only option is to open a mothership in the US or head for the hills. As a result, other locations, in Austria, Romania and Lithuania, have been offering themselves as alternatives.

The CEU was founded in 1991 in Prague, before former President Vaclav Klaus booted it out a few years later. Back then its stated mission was to “educate a new corps of regional leaders to help usher in democratic transitions across the region.” By the year 2000, it had moved onto “a special emphasis on democracy promotion and human rights.” Among its alumni are Azeri dissidents Ilgar Mammadov and Rashadat Akhundov, Serbian pro-NATO activist Srđan Cvijić and current Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili. Thus, many local influencers fear Budapest has been hosting its own “colour revolution” factory.

Orbán and Soros have had their share of mutual grievances. Two years ago, the Prime Minister accused the billionaire of being responsible for the migrant crisis. "His name is perhaps the strongest example of those who support anything that weakens nation states, they support everything that changes the traditional European lifestyle,” he told a radio station. "These activists who support immigrants inadvertently become part of this international human-smuggling network.”

Soros shot back, saying he was trying to “uphold European values” while Orbán’s actions “undermined those values.”

In February of this year, the feud intensified. “Large-bodied predators are swimming here in the waters. This is the trans-border empire of George Soros, with tons of money and international heavy artillery,” Orbán insisted. “It is causing trouble … that they are trying secretly and with foreign money to influence Hungarian politics,”

Tale of the Tape

Orbán's party is fully on board. Fidesz deputy chairman, Szilard Nemeth, said in December that Donald Trump’s US election win was a game changer: “these organisations must be pushed back with all available tools, and I think they must be swept out. And now I believe the international conditions are right for this with the election.”

As for the two heavy hitters themselves, while both are Hungarian, they couldn't be more different. Soros is a billionaire, whose $25 million fortune is worth about 20 percent of his homeland’s entire GDP. He was raised in an upper middle-class home in Budapest, his father a lawyer and his mother from a wealthy family of silk traders. At the age of 17, he left Hungary and migrated to Britain, where he studied at London’s School of Economics. Ten years later, New York beckoned and, by his late 30s, Soros had founded his own fund management company.

By contrast, Orbán is a country boy. Hailing from the rural county of Fejer, where his father worked in agriculture, he studied law in Budapest. However, such was his dislike for city life that, upon graduation, he immediately relocated to a country town, Szolnok, and commuted into the capital for work. In 1989, he spent a few months at Oxford University, ironically on a Soros scholarship, but quickly returned to Hungary to enter politics.

Soros once said he hoped that his foundation would help Hungary become “a country from which I wouldn’t want to emigrate.” It seems, at the age of 86, his mission to fashion his homeland’s politics to his own agenda has failed. That said, the majority of Hungarian voters appear to be supportive of Orbán’s ambition to create an illiberal, nationalist state, within the European Union. And there's no doubting how the politician is winning the argument.

[TsarSamuil]

Soros Go Home: Hungary Bans Soros "University"; Eastern Europe Also Slams Soros Org.

Russia Insider
Apr 10, 2017

[TsarSamuil]

Soros 'mafia state' speech a declaration of war – Hungarian PM Orban.

RT.com
2 Jun, 2017 16:03

The war of words between George Soros and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban is threatening to boil over after the billionaire philanthropist claimed Hungary is a ‘mafia state’ posing as a democracy.

“He [Orban] sought to frame his policies as a personal conflict between the two of us and has made me the target of his unrelenting propaganda campaign,” the Hungarian-born American financier said during his keynote address at the annual economic forum of the European Commission Thursday.

The speech was Soros’ first public comment in response to a controversial bill proposed in April which threatens to close his Central European University.

“[Orban] cast himself in the role of the defender of Hungarian sovereignty and me as a shady currency speculator who uses his money to flood Europe — particularly his native Hungary — with illegal immigrants as part of some vague but nefarious plot,” he added.

Orban did not take such accusations lightly, however, and fired back at Soros Friday.

"This is a declaration of war, no doubt," Orban told state radio Friday, as cited by Reuters. "The only network which operates in mafia ways, which is not transparent... in Hungary is the Soros network."

"This is why we must insist, and I personally insist on having a parliament decision on making these organizations transparent," Orban added.

Soros founded the Central European University (CEU) in 1991 as an independent American academic institution in Hungary. However, the bill introduced by the Hungarian parliament in April would force the university’s closure as it does not have a physical campus in the United States. The move was seen by some as an attempt to limit free speech and liberal values in the country.

During his speech, Soros praised the tens of thousands of people who marched in protests across Hungary in April while decrying “the deception and corruption of the mafia state the Orban regime has established.”

The European Commission began ‘legal action’ against the Hungarian government in April and the European Parliament voted to introduce penalties against the Hungarian government for a breach of EU values. With all sides refusing to stand down, discussion reached a dead end.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo broke the legal deadlock last week, however, when he said in a statement that New York, where the CEU is registered, would be open to negotiations on the matter, with the Hungarian government reciprocating by opening a dialogue with the European Commission.

Soros also railed against Poland's ruling party for its similar treatment of NGOs while describing the EU as “cumbersome, slow-moving” and in need of a “radical” reinvention.

“This is difficult to achieve when two countries, Poland and Hungary, are conspiring to oppose it,” Soros said. “It will require resolute action by European institutions and the active engagement of civil society.”

“Democracy cannot be imposed from the outside; it needs to be asserted and defended by the people themselves,” he added.

In his annual state of the nation address in February, Orban pushed back against foreign-funded institutions operating in Hungary and throughout the European Union.

“Here there are large predators swimming in the water, and this is the transnational empire of George Soros,” Orban said, adding that Soros-funded organizations “are working to bring hundreds of thousands of migrants into Europe.”

In 2015, Orban described Soros as “the strongest example of those who support anything that weakens nation states, they support everything that changes the traditional European lifestyle,” in an interview on public radio Kossuth.

“These activists who support immigrants inadvertently become part of this international human-smuggling network.”

The Hungarian parliament is expected to pass the controversial bill later this month despite widespread condemnation from activists and politicians and a resolution passed in the European Parliament which condemned the "serious deterioration" in the rule of law and human rights in Hungary.

[TsarSamuil]

Hungary summons US envoy over plan to fund rural media outlets.

RT.com
15 Nov, 2017 09:56

Hungary’s Foreign Ministry has summoned US envoy David Kostelancik over a plan to fund rural media outlets in Hungary, Reuters said. Budapest considers the plan to be a “political intervention” ahead of an election due early next year. The United States said on Monday that it would allocate $700,000 to fund rural media outlets in Hungary to help train and equip journalists in defense of independent media. The US program offers technical and financial assistance to media outlets, small grants and other tools. The funds can be used after the election in May 2018.

www.state.gov/j/drl/p/275396.htm

[TsarSamuil]

Hungarian PM Orban says George Soros will interfere in election, vows to stop him.

RT.com
2 Dec, 2017 02:35

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has vowed to use all the means at his disposal to counter the influence of George Soros, warning that the American billionaire is planning to interfere in next year’s elections in the country.

In an interview with Kossuth radio on Friday, Orban again accused Soros of attempting to undermine Hungarian institutions and society through his network of NGOs and pro-immigration stance, and revealed that the Hungarian intelligence services had compiled a report on Soros’ activities.

“We want a different future, and... it was my duty to enlist all possible tools of the state, including intelligence, the secret services, legal and public debate,” Orban told listeners. “Therefore, we ordered an intelligence report on the composition, workings and Hungarian and European influence of this Soros machinery... Hungary’s very existence is at stake.”

Orban and Soros have long been at odds over the issue of asylum seekers and refugees entering Europe. Orban considers mass immigration, particularly from Muslim countries, as an existential threat to Europe. Soros, meanwhile, has consistently advocated on behalf of refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers. Citing his intelligence report, Orban accused Soros of using his NGOs as a front for supporting opposition groups, which in turn criticize the government’s stance on immigration.

Orban, whose ruling right-wing Fidesz party is currently leading in the polls, then went on to say that Soros is planning to use his network to interfere in parliamentary elections due to take place in April.

“They will support publications, do propaganda, strengthen civil groups, and pay hundreds, thousands of people. By election time they will establish ‘civil centers’ which will work like campaigning parties, meaning the Soros network has entered the Hungarian election campaign.”

A spokesman for Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF) confirmed to Reuters that the group planned to open two more centers in the south and east of Hungary, but said they will handle education, healthcare and poverty programs, and would not get involved in immigration or politics.

In a video released earlier Friday before Orban’s remarks, Soros lamented what he perceived to be Orban’s slide towards authoritarianism and crusade against Soros-funded groups. The two men used to be on the same side during Hungary’s transition from communism, and in 1989, the future Hungarian leader was himself the recipient of a Soros grant to study at Oxford University, which he has since pledged to repay. In the video, Soros accused the current Hungarian government of being even more oppressive than the communist regime.

"Back then, we were more successful in supporting society in getting access to support and information," Soros said. The political system in Hungary today “is the complete opposite of what we wanted to help achieve."

Despite the constant warnings about Soros from the Fidesz party and its allies, the Hungarian police have yet to open an investigation into his allegedly subversive activities. In a statement released on Tuesday, the National Bureau of Investigation (NNI) has said there is no evidence of any actual law-breaking, and Soros giving his opinion on immigration issues does not equate to inciting violent unrest.

[TsarSamuil]

Hungary: Orban's Fidesz party holds final rally before Sunday's elections.

Ruptly
Apr 6, 2018



Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his party Fidesz held their final electoral rally in the central Hungarian city of Szekesfehervar on Friday, just before this weekend’s upcoming Hungarian parliamentary elections.

SOT, Viktor Orban, Hungarian Prime Minister (Hungarian): "There are people who want to take our country. They want the opposition parties to govern, who serve foreign interests. They want to give power to opposition parties who are receiving foreign wages. Afterwards, they want to ruin our border fence and accept the colonisation quota."

[TsarSamuil]

Hungary PM Orban declares victory as ruling party projected to take 67% of parliament seats.

RT.com
8 Apr, 2018 22:13

Viktor Orban has claimed a decisive victory and is set for a third consecutive term as Hungarian prime minister, after preliminary results show his Fidesz party taking a majority of at least 134 seats in the 199-seat parliament.

“We have won… Hungary has won a great victory,” Orban told a crowd of cheering supporters at a Sunday night rally, who responded by spontaneously singing the country’s national anthem.

According to preliminary results of Sunday’s parliamentary election, the incumbent Prime Minister's Fidesz party secured over 48 percent of the vote. The far-right Jobbik party received roughly 20 percent in the early results, while the Socialists are looking to come in third, with roughly 12 percent.

With more than 90 percent of votes counted, the Fidesz party is expected to take 134 seats out of the parliament’s 199. The far-right Jobbik party will secure roughly 26 seats.

Following Orban's victory speech, Jobbik's leader, Gabor Vona, announced that he will resign following his party’s defeat. “Once again Fidesz has sadly won,” he told his supporters on Sunday night, according to the Guardian.

The Socialist Party President Gyula Molnar also announced his resignation following the vote. "We regard ourselves responsible for what happened, [and] we have acknowledged the decision of voters," he told party supporters.

The prime minister’s campaign has been centered on anti-immigration policies. "High turnout has cast aside all doubts," Orban noted on Sunday night, after election officials announced a 68 percent poll attendance of some 8.3 million eligible voters.



'Orbanization' of Europe? Western media alarmed over Hungary PM's decisive victory.

RT.com
9 Apr, 2018 15:15

Not everyone in the West is happy about Viktor Orban's victory, in which he secured a third straight term as Hungarian prime minister. Some Western media call the result a serious warning and a problem for the EU and its values.

Orban's Fidesz party, with its strong anti-immigration agenda, won a large majority – 133 of the 199 seats in parliament – as it gained over 66.8 percent of the votes in Sunday's parliamentary election. It is the Hungarian Euroskeptic's third consecutive term and fourth overall, but these elections gained much attention in the wake of rising right-wing sentiments in Europe.

Some politicians welcomed the results, including Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, as well as Christian Social Union (CSU) member Manfred Weber. However, the latter's support for Orban was lambasted by Washington Post columnist Brian Klaas, who called Orban an "anti-Semitic, racist demagogue and an authoritarian… destroying" Hungarian democracy.

One of the EU member states, Luxembourg, also took a rather aggressive stance and called for its allies in the bloc, namely Germany and France, to stand against the elected Hungarian prime minister. Luxembourg's foreign minister warned that Hungary may even trigger a trend of "undermining values and scaremongering" across the EU.

"It is up to Germany and France, along with all member states that aren't counting on indifference, to weigh in unambiguously on the basis of the European treaties to neutralize this tumor of values,'' Jean Asselborn said, as quoted by Die Welt.

Those fears were echoed in a Die Welt opinion piece headlined "Now threatening Orbanization of Europe." The article links Orban's success with "Hungarian inferiority complex" and warns that the country is on the brink of sinking "into political coma" as it says that democratic change of power would hardly happen now. At the same time, the author raises alarm that the "Orban model" of democracy could be picked up by other European states, while Poland is constantly following Hungary's path.

"They have a deja vu in Brussels: Orban has done all of that before and the Poles are following in, although they are coming to this in a much more awkward way," the article reads. "Viktor Orban is preparing to become the EU's gravedigger."

French newspaper Le Monde was also generous in attaching labels to the Hungarian prime minister, as its editorial called him "populist" and the "troublemaker" of Europe. The newspaper argues that the scale of Orban's party success is "a serious warning for Brussels" that can be interpreted "as a strong encouragement for populist parties" in the bloc.

The article also urges the transnational European People's Party (EPP), which includes major European center-right parties and of which Orban's Fidesz party is a member, to condemn "the xenophobic discourse and the authoritarian drift of its Hungarian partner."

Maarten Rabaey, in his article for Belgian De Morgen, also cautioned Orban's European allies to take a tougher stance against him for "undermining European values."

"It's time Juncker and his party friends in the European People's Party called a halt to the way in which their 'party friend' Orban is undermining European values under the banner of the EU and the EPP," Rabaey wrote. "It is their duty to warn Orban that he won't be able to implement his xenophobic and anti-Semitic election program without serious consequences."

Meanwhile, it may be that not Orban, but the EU, has to change its position and face discussion over European values and basic principles, Konrad Krammar wrote for Austrian daily Kurier.

"But that also means not summarily dismissing Orban's ideas as undemocratic or anti-European but giving them serious consideration. Europe, whose credibility is already faltering, needs this debate about values," Krammar stated in an opinion piece.

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‘More Hungarians share Viktor Orban’s anti-immigration stance than just his party supporters’

RT.com
10 Apr, 2018 12:59

The landslide victory for the party of Hungarian PM Viktor Orban has been criticized within the EU and cheered by Euroskeptics, but most agree that it was his stance on the European migrant crisis that secured the popular support.

The decisive election win for the Fidesz Party was "a surprise," to Gabor Stier, political commentator for the Hungarian Magyar Nemzet newspaper, who says Orban used people's fear of immigrants to secure the win.

"Everybody was sure that Orban and Fidesz would achieve victory. But getting two thirds of the ballot (133 seats out of 199 in the parliament) for the third time in a row was more than they expected themselves," he said.

Anti-migration rhetoric became a key factor in Prime Minister Orban's success as "three years ago he sensed that things weren't going the way they should and showed an alternative – for domestic use, at least," Stier explained. The Hungarian PM refused to take in refugees as part of a quota for the EU member states despite pressure from the bloc, and he blasted Brussels over its failed migration policies.

Stier says Orban "used the fears of the population" to his advantage during his campaign. "The people came to the polling stations on Sunday thinking that the main thing is protecting Hungary from migrants, whom we don't have here. We have stability now and if the opposition comes to power it'll bring turmoil and chaos. So, let it stay the way it is despite the existing problems."

The PM will continue to implement his anti-migrant policies throughout his third term in office as he "set the stakes too high," said Mariann Ory, political commentator for the Hungarian Magyar Hirlap paper. "One wrong decision now, one step on the road to become an immigrant country would determine Hungary's future for decades and, based on the failed integration experiences of Western Europe, there's no way back after such a decision."

Orban has been labelled nationalist in Europe for his refusal to let asylum seekers in, but "We don't consider it 'far right,'" said Ory. "On the contrary, Hungary supports a migration policy based on common sense, instead of the open-borders policy of Western Europe, that proved to be dangerous," she added.

"More people agree with Fidesz's anti-migration stance than the core voter base of Fidesz," Ory continued, commenting on the ruling party's election success. "Also, Fidesz's governance produced several results in aspects of welfare, family support, wage rises."

Stier described Orban as "a successful, talented and creative politician; a populist in the finest sense of this word, on most occasions." The emphasis on the anti-migrant issue made him a politician of a European scale and put Hungary on the continents political map, he added.

"It will be easier for Orban to talk with the EU [about migration] after his victory, because the European democracies respect those with public support. His position will be stronger now. But it doesn't mean that there won' be problems as this struggle continues," said the analyst.

However, there are still internal problems in Hungary, including "corruption, which is very high, and the aggressive, rude and patronizing rhetoric this party [Fidesz] has allowed itself towards the Hungarian people on many occasions," according to Stier.

Stier believes that Orban "built a party, which is dominating the Hungarian political scene. Because of this, there's no opposition and no alternative," he said. The far-right Jobbik Party, which came second in the election and claimed 24 parliament seats, is "a good example" of Fidesz's superiority, the commentator added.

"Jobbik used to lean to the right even more than Fidesz and they've lost all of their agenda because Orban's party used it as well. They tried moving towards the center, but because of it they lost many voices of the radicals. Jobbik is now the second party in parliament, but they couldn't do any better than four years ago," he said.

Stier also confirmed that there's currently "a demand for the rightist rhetoric in Hungary" that can be explained by the fact that "the left, the liberals nearly destroyed the country in the 2000s."

The Jobbik Party's foreign affairs chair, Marton Gyongyosi, blamed Orban for overreliance on the migrant issue during the "hysterical" election campaign. "Of course, we are aware that this is an important topic [migration], but it's quite sad to see that no other issues could enter the agenda in this electoral campaign and it seems to have brought result for the governing party," he said in a live appearance on RT.

The politician expressed belief that Budapest's relations with the EU after the prime minister "received the feedback from the population that this is the right way to go" will deteriorate further. "I think we would all be surprised if Viktor Obran would back down from this strategy. I think he's just going to push it further and he's not going to be scared off, perhaps, by the increasing tension between… other European countries and Hungary," the MP said.

Gyongyosi acknowledged that it would be "tough" to counter the Fidesz party's two-thirds majority in parliament, adding that "we have experienced that already twice in a row – in 2010-2014 and since 2014 – but I think we have to bring back common sense to the political arena in Hungary and we have to do what an opposition has to do."

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‘No United States of Europe’: Hungary’s Orban vows to strengthen his sovereign policies.

RT.com
10 Apr, 2018 21:14

Hungary will continue its anti-immigrant stance and will pursue a vision of the EU as a union of nations instead of the “United States of Europe,” PM Viktor Orban said after his party’s parliamentary elections victory.

Orban believes the re-election triumph has given him a “strong mandate” to tackle the problems that concern Hungarians the most, he said on Tuesday.

“The Hungarian people have defined the most important issues: these are the questions of immigration and national sovereignty,” the prime minister said. “It is entirely clear...from the election result that Hungarians have decided that only they can decide with whom they want to live in Hungary, and the government will stick to this position.”

Orban’s Fidesz party won by a large majority – 134 of the 199 seats in parliament – gaining over 67 percent of the votes in Sunday's parliamentary election. The Eurosceptic and anti-immigrant party has, therefore, secured its third consecutive term as the country’s ruling party.

Orban has announced an upcoming revamp of his government, which would come “in a large part with new people and a new structure.” He did not provide any details on the possible changes in Hungary’s cabinet.

Keeping the country’s sovereign powers out of the reach of European bureaucrats will remain a priority for the ruling party, despite the changes in the government, Orban said, sharing his vision of the future of the European Union.

“The election, in my view, also ... decided that the Hungarian government must stand up for a Europe of nations and not for a 'United States of Europe,'” the PM said.

Ahead of the elections, Orban’s Fidesz party introduced the so-called ‘Stop Soros Act.’ The party is expected to push the legislation through shortly after the parliament reconvenes following the elections. The bill is designed to tackle NGOs which “organize illegal immigration” and otherwise advocate for the rights of migrants. The proposed measures include imposing of a 25 percent tax on foreign donations to NGOs, as well as obliging them to be registered and to provide detailed data on their activities.

The legislation owes its name to the US-Hungarian billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, who is well-known for promoting the rights of migrants and asylum seekers through his network of NGOs. Orban has repeatedly accused Soros of conspiring to flood Europe with millions of migrants, predominantly from Muslim countries, in order to undermine European values and demographics and to push a globalist agenda.