Orbán: ‘Soros Network’ behind migration in the Balkans

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a radio interview accused the “Soros Network” of organising migration across the Balkans.

In his regular Friday morning interview to public broadcaster Kossuth Radio, the prime minister said Soros-funded organisations were involved in “migration consulting”.

Referring to US financier George Soros, Orbán branded Soros as “the world’s number-one oligarch” who was “financing NGOs, groups, activists” in “mafia-like networks”.

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He said that whereas “Soros-funded politicians for rent” were in favour of migration, Hungary was opposed to it.

Commenting on an attempt by migrants on Tuesday to break through the border, Orbán noted that the people who actually managed to cross to Hungary were arrested and found guilty in court, and they will be expelled from the country. The recordings clearly show that there were no women and children among the migrants, only “military-age men in good physical condition”, he said.

So it is clear they “weren’t blown here by the wind.”

Border protection and the fight against migration are the most important current European and Hungarian issues, he said, adding that he was making efforts to convince decision-makers that the European Union budget allocation for border protection should be given directly to member states rather than to the common EU border protection body. So far the EU “has given less than a pittance” to Hungary for border protection despite the fact that the work done also benefits the Austrians and the Germans, he added.

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Commenting on preventive measures against the coronavirus, he said that an “operative board” — a coordination committee headed by Interior Minister Sandor Pinter — had been set up. Steps must be coordinated between, for instance, the immigration police and the border guard, he said. The board includes professionals and the minister in charge of health care and the medical chief officer. “There isn’t a problem right now but the issue must be taken seriously,” Orbán said, adding that he had asked Justice Minister Judit Varga to make sure regulations covering the spread of fake news that could cause panic are effective.

On the topic of prisoners suing the state over poor jail conditions, Orbán said they were running a “business”, having launched 12,000 lawsuits so far. From the money the European court obliges the Hungarian state to pay out in such cases, 60 percent goes to the lawyers, he said, adding that this was an abuse of the law against which firm action would be taken by the government. He said that when it came to ongoing cases, the state was reluctant to pay a single penny as “criminals and lawyers” would be sharing the proceeds of taxpayers’ money.

Commenting on the subject of school segregation in Gyöngyöspata, Orbán said 80 percent of non-Roma students in rural schools had to contend with intolerable conditions such as high absenteeism and rule-breaking by the other students. Non-Roma Hungarians reacted by withdrawing their children from such schools, Orbán said, adding that there was “a feeling among the non-Roma in Gyöngyöspata” that they had to “go into retreat even though they were in the majority”. “Due to a court decision following a lawsuit launched by Soros organisations, millions must be paid to those who have made it impossible for their children to learn properly,” the prime minister added.

“We take the side of the 80 percent who are decent, working Hungarians who demand a suitable education for their child,” Orbán said, adding that he had asked the local Fidesz MP to “turn this situation round as a matter of urgency”. He added that “among Gypsy families there are those, of course, who want their children to go to normal school”, but these people were also hindered by the disorder.

“I won’t pay … parents who allowed their children to go absent from school for 500 hours; and when [their children] did turn up, they behaved in a way that made teaching impossible,” he said, adding that the government took the side of “decent people”.

Source: MTI