Liberals to turn to top court over Pécs assembly’s ‘anti-NGO’ declaration

The opposition Liberal Party is turning to the Constitutional Court and the ombudsman for fundamental rights over a declaration adopted by the municipal assembly of Pécs last week protesting the establishment of a “Soros campaign centre” in the southern Hungarian city, the party’s leader said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference, Gábor Fodor also slammed a letter Kaposvár mayor Károly Szita had sent to his colleagues, “urging them to resist US financier George Soros’s opening offices for NGOs in various cities across Hungary”.

If there is a clampdown on civil groups, it will result in weakened democratic controls, Fodor said, objecting to what he saw as efforts to demonise Soros.

Ruling Fidesz reacted by saying that the Liberals “are again standing up for George Soros”. In a statement, the party said Fodor was “one of the opposition politicians who have been attacking the government’s migration policy from the beginning”. Hungarian cities and towns are rightfully wary of the “Soros network” and its “pro-migrant policies”, Fidesz said, arguing that “wherever migrants have shown up in Europe, everyday security was gone”.

Source: MTI