Orbán: EU working to allow 34 million migrants into bloc
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has told public radio that the European Union wanted to allow 34 million migrants into the bloc, and planned to “give them housing, social benefits, citizenship and voting rights.”
Referring to financier George Soros, Orbán said the EU’s goals amounted to “implementing the Soros plan”.
In a regular interview with Kossuth Radio on Friday, Orbán said: “If leftists gave voting rights to 34 million people in Europe, they could count on their votes for a long time.”
Orbán said Hungarian left-wing parties were working to implement the same plan in Hungary, by bringing migrants to the country “who would then vote for them”.
“We can’t allow them to transform Hungary,” he said.
Orbán said that regarding the EU’s multiannual budget and its pandemic recovery package, Hungary insists that economic matters should be separated from the “politically controversial” rule of law conditionality.
“We could approve the budget and the recovery package swiftly and without ado, and put aside the decree stirring political debate, the so-called rule of law decree, to be discussed later,” Orbán said, adding that Hungary and Poland have agreed to represent that standpoint.
Orbán said that according to an agreement signed by the Hungarian and Polish prime ministers, the two countries would represent the same views in the debate, and neither would accept stances the other was opposed to.
Referring to reports that Poland was ready to give up the veto if the EU added a declaration to the decree to detail its implementation, Orbán said “adding some declaration … won’t cut it. Hungary is adamant that the two issues should be separated.”
Commenting on the suggestion that 25 of the EU’s member states could agree to set up the recovery package without the outliers, Orbán said he was not aware of such a possibility.
“But if that happened, what would be wrong with that?” The EU could agree on the budget later, and Hungary “would not lose money,” he said.
Regarding the recovery package, Orbán said Hungary would welcome a way to avoid taking out loans jointly with high-deficit countries like Italy and Greece, instead of whom the other countries might be forced to pay the debt. Hungary participated in the scheme “as a favour, a gesture of solidarity”, he said.
Commenting on a proposal by European People’s Party group leader Manfred Weber that decisions on issues concerning the rule of law should be left up to the European Commission while disputes should be settled by the Court of Justice of the European Union, Orbán said: “Everyone’s talking all kinds of nonsense and this is also true for Mr. Weber.”
“We’re not stupid, we weren’t born yesterday, we can put two and two together,” the prime minister said, insisting that Weber’s proposal meant that the EU wanted to “force anything onto member states that can be painted as a rule of law issue with a simple majority vote”.
Orbán said the EC’s migration-related proposal made “no attempt to hide the intention that they want to provide housing and welfare entitlements and grant citizenship to 34 million migrants”.
“They want to be able to shoot down Hungary and Poland’s opposition to migration with a simple majority vote,” he said. “That’s what this is all about, that’s what the so-called rule of law tool would be used for.”
Asked if the case of long-time Fidesz MEP József Szájer, who this week quit the party after violating lockdown rules in Brussels and a motion by EPP members for a vote on expelling Fidesz MEP Tamas Deutsch from the political family’s European Parliamentary group were Brussels’s way of turning up the pressure on Hungary, Orbán said this was a malicious interpretation of these developments, “especially when it comes to the Germans, but we can’t rule anything out”. The prime minister added, that he saw no evidence that the two issues and the budget debate were related.
Concerning the pandemic, Orbán stressed the importance of making a safe coronavirus vaccine available to the public as quickly as possible. “We mustn’t let political considerations or the interests of pharmaceutical companies get in the way of this, which is why we have to negotiate both with the East and the West,” he said.
Commenting on the UK’s approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and preparations for a mass vaccination programme, Orbán said: “Those who quit [the European Union] now follow their own path, they’re looking for a solution of their own and are able to protect the health and lives of their citizens quicker than those of us who stayed.”
The prime minister reaffirmed that health-care workers and patients in the most critical condition would be the first to be administered a vaccine when it becomes available.
As regards the status of coronavirus-related restrictions in Hungary beyond Dec. 11, the prime minister said the government would decide on the next steps at a meeting of the operative board coordinating the response to the epidemic on Monday. He added that it had been made clear at earlier meetings that scientists and doctors firmly oppose any major relaxation of restrictions.
Concerning this Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Romania, Orbán said Romania was an important economic partner for Hungary. “We’ve tied ourselves to the Hungarian community there and whenever we go there, it means money for Romania,” he said.
Orbán said Hungary and Romania had a shared interest in both countries having stable governments and urged the Hungarian community to back the ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party on Sunday.
Orbán: EU sees accepting migrants as benchmark of rule of law
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Friday said the European Union saw only pro-migration member states as adhering to the rule of law, who were ready to “turn their homelands into countries of immigration.”
Hungary will “resist and we will not accept financial repercussions,” Orban said in an interview with public radio.
Hungary and Poland’s votes are key to passing the EU’s multi-annual financial framework and its Next Generation EU recovery package, Orbán said. “Our position is set in stone,” he added.
The EU now should focus on granting the necessary funding for member states in need and to “get the seven-year budget off the ground,” Orbán said.
Hungary and Poland “have been saying since July” that the rule of law conditions cannot be tied to funding, he added.
Meanwhile, Orbán said “the protagonist, [financier] George Soros, is weaving his web in the background.”
Soros proposed as early as 2015-2016 that member states unwilling to accept migrants should be “punished financially”, Orbán said. Accepting the EU’s current proposal would mean “part of our budget could be taken away if we refuse to allow migrants in,” he said.
The European Parliament is now a sounding board for Soros’s proposal, Orbán said, adding “it was wrong of the European Council to bow to that pressure.”
Read alsoOrbán cabinet: Soros calls for financial sanctions against countries that refuse migrants
Orbán: Hungary key to implementing rule of law in region – Die Zeit
In an interview with the German daily Die Zeit, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called Hungary’s journey from Soviet influence to the European Union “the life’s work of my comrades and myself”, and said Hungarians had done much to implement the rule of law in the region, “but along objective criteria”.
Answering a question, Orbán said in the interview published on Wednesday that he had not considered pulling Hungary out of the EU. “We are the street fighters of the rule of law,” he said.
However, the EU’s handling of the migration crisis in 2015 was a “great disappointment”, the prime minister said in the interview conducted on Nov 16. “We were told that those who do not accept migrants will not get money. Is this equality?”
Hungary maintains excellent relations with Muslim countries, and provides help to those facing difficulties, he said.
“We Hungarians are not anti-Islam … [but] see multicultural society as self-denial, and the protection of Judeo-Christian culture as survival.”
Neither can Hungary be seen as anti-Semitic for its conflict with financier George Soros, he said.
“Soros wants something that’s bad for Hungary. He was the first to suggest punishing those who do not allow migrants into the country by depriving them of EU funding … This is a purely political debate,” he said.
The issue of rule of law conditions has to be separated from the EU’s budget and recovery package in order to resolve the impasse in the matter, Orbán said.
“Countries in need want the money quickly — let us give it to them. Others want new rule of law regulations — let’s talk about it. The first needs to be done right away, the second can wait,” Orbán said.
Such regulations require amendments to the Lisbon Treaty, Orbán said, adding that the current method of “gradually changing” regulations was contrary to the rule of law principle.
Should his proposal not be accepted, it will be up to the German presidency to handle the situation, he said.
Read the interview in full (in German) HERE.
A Trojan horse in Europe – Hungarian MEPs’ joint reaction to Die Zeit article
Hungarian opposition MEPs Klára Dobrev, Márton Gyöngyösi, Attila Ara-Kovács, Csaba Molnár, Sándor Rónai and István Ujhelyi released their joint reaction in the online edition of the influential German magazine Die Zeit to the dilemma that is raised time and again: i.e., whether you should or should not act tough with Orbán in the European arena
Das Trojanische Pferd von Europa
Driven by a naive and quite mistaken idea, some authors, including famous journalists or even EPP Group Chair Manfred Weber, are thinking about making a compromise.
However, it is our common interest not to let them be misled: throughout his 10-year reign, Orbán has clearly demonstrated that he understands nothing but force; he is not the kind of politician you can reason with. That’s what the opposition MEPs are pointing out to the European citizens and decision makers.
Read alsoPM Orbán: Soros is the most corrupt man in today’s international politics
Brussels preparing to implement ‘Soros plan’, says Fidesz MEP
Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch on Wednesday said Brussels was getting ready to implement an alleged plan by US financier George Soros to import migrants into Europe.
In a video message on Facebook, Deutsch said an action plan unveiled by the European Commission on Tuesday “is none other than the implementation of the Soros plan”.
Deutsch said the plan “for a mass admission of migrants” into Europe had three key elements.
The MEP cited the EU home affairs commissioner as saying during the unveiling of the plan that the bloc was in need of more migrants. “In other words, Brussels has openly admitted that it wants to turn Europe into a continent of immigrants and wants to break down all physical and legal barriers standing in the way of the tens of millions of migrants en route to Europe,” he said.
Deutsch said the second important element of the plan was granting voting rights to immigrants.
“The left and the pro-migration forces want to create an open society purely out of political interest,” he insisted.
“In other words, they want a mixed society and build up a voter base made up of migrants all across Europe.”
The third key element, he said, was Brussels’s plan to provide “all kinds of welfare benefits to migrants” from European taxpayer money.
Deutsch said that tying the payment of EU funds to member states to political conditions was “a part of Brussels’s blackmail”.
“This is another issue in which Brussels is fulfilling Soros’s order,”
he said. “Soros gave the order to deprive member states that refuse to take in migrants of funds as early as 2015.”
Deutsch said Brussels and “the pro-migration forces” were preparing to settle millions of migrants in Europe and force that plan onto member states.
“The government of Viktor Orbán, Fidesz, the Christian Democrats and all of us Hungarians who oppose immigration are standing in the way of the Soros plan, which is why they’re bringing everything they have against us,”
he said.
Read alsoSoros: Europe must stand up to Hungary and Poland – Interview
Orbán: Europe ‘must not succumb to Soros network’
Europe must not succumb to the Soros network, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote in an English-language post on his official website in reply to a recent article by financier George Soros.
The prime minister wrote that many believed “economic criminal” Soros was not worthy of a response because his financial speculation had ruined the lives of millions of people, while the financier had held national economies to ransom.
“Yet now I am compelled to do so, because in an article appearing on the Project Syndicate website on 18 November, the Hungarian-born speculator and billionaire George Soros issued open commands to the leaders of the European Union.
In his article he instructs them to severely punish those Member States that do not want to become part of a unifying European empire under the banner of a global ‘open society’,”
the prime minister wrote.
“Throughout history, Europe’s strength has always been derived from its nations. Although of different origins, European nations were bound together by the common roots of our faith,” Orbán wrote, adding that the European family model based on Judeo-Christian traditions provided its foundations. “It was Christian freedom which ensured freedom of thought and culture, and which created benign competition among the continent’s nations. This magnificent amalgam of contrasts made Europe the world’s leading power through centuries of history.”
“[H]istorical experience tells us that Europe will be great again if its nations become great again, and resist all forms of imperial ambition,”
he wrote.
“Great forces are once again moving to eradicate the nations of Europe and unify the continent under the aegis of a global empire. The Soros network, which has woven itself through Europe’s bureaucracy and its political elite, has for years been working to make Europe an immigrant continent. Today the Soros network, which promotes a global open society and seeks to abolish national frameworks, is the greatest threat faced by the states of the European Union.
The goals of the network are obvious: to create multi-ethnic, multicultural open societies by accelerating migration, and to dismantle national decision-making, placing it in the hands of the global elite,” the prime minister wrote.
The full post can be read HERE.
Read alsoPM Orbán: Soros is the most corrupt man in today’s international politics
PM Orbán: Soros is the most corrupt man in today’s international politics
Financier George Soros, the “most corrupt man in today’s international politics”, is threatening Hungary and Poland, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a regular interview with public radio on Friday.
Soros
Orbán insisted Soros had “many politicians on his payroll … he is the corrupting force behind the Brussels bureaucrats blackmailing and threatening Hungary.”
He noted that Soros had published a “big article” recently, “instructing Brussels bureaucrats” what to do. The European Council reacted “calmly” by saying they knew how to resolve debates within themselves, he told Kossuth Radio.
Orbán said Soros was threatening Hungary and Poland, though the EU habitually resolved debates through negotiation.
“Debates at knifepoint” are not uncommon in the EU, a natural consequence of having to reconcile the interests of 27 member states, he said.
EU budget and recovery fund
The prime minister said unscrupulous “lies” about Hungary were not uncommon but now they had reached fever pitch. He said the only acceptable solution to the current impasse over the EU budget and recovery fund would be a genuinely legal, not a political, one. With Soros’s input, he said “they want to create institutions” that, with a qualified majority, could force Hungary to dismantle its fence on the southern border and let migrants into the country. “Hungary rejects such demands,” he said.
Orbán said that for Hungary the dispute was not over money, adding that Hungary was a stable country where all the developments planned for the next ten years could get off the ground regardless of political debates and without the input of Brussels, adding that Hungary “can borrow for thirty years” without the EU thanks to its good reputation on the international markets. Orbán added that the country had raised a credit of 2.5 billion euros recently.
Vaccines
Meanwhile, the prime minister said the 12 million doses of vaccines Hungary had procured against the coronavirus are expected to be sufficient to stem the epidemic. The vaccines are likely to be rolled out at the end of spring, although exact dates are as yet uncertain, he said, adding that vaccines were health-care issues, not political ones. If certain countries are further along in developing it, then it “makes sense” that Hungary should order from them as well, he said, referring to talks under way with China and Russia.
Referring to Soros’s call for an inquiry as to why Hungary had received samples of a Russian vaccine on Thursday, Orbán said:
“It isn’t Soros’s job to decide which vaccines are good and which aren’t. That is for laboratories to decide and the Hungarian people, who will be free to choose from among several vaccines.”
Orbán said the favourable statistics recorded in the past few days weren’t proof that the coronavirus epidemic was subsiding. Referring to a recent consultation with Hungary’s chief medical officer, Orbán said the number of infections “may fall further but equally it could start rising again”. He asked Hungarians to be more disciplined “because the lives of the elderly are in danger, and all lives matter.”
Healthcare system, coronavirus
He said the number of people in hospital was high, but the health-care system had not yet reached capacity.
Orbán noted that 1,150 soldiers are serving in hospitals and another 1,150 are on standby. He rejected accusations that the government had failed to prepare adequately for a second wave.
The prime minister expressed doubt about quick coronavirus tests and said the logistical task of organising testing in the smallest of localities was hard, “but we are prepared”, noting that 2,000 students were involved in the operations. Orbán said
mass testing was good preparation for when mass vaccinations occur.
Read alsoOver 3,500 Covid patients have died since the appearance of coronavirus in Hungary
Orbán cabinet: Soros calls for financial sanctions against countries that refuse migrants
George Soros has called for financial sanctions against countries that refuse to take in migrants, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.
Gergely Gulyás told a regular press briefing that Hungary “cannot accept any form of lecturing” from the American-Hungarian financier.
Hungary insists that it has the right to decide whom to live with and whom not to live with, Gulyás said.
“It has the right to decide whether to reject migration or not, and its citizens gave an unambiguous response in the referendum and the general election,” he added.
Gulyás said Hungary’s opposition had published a position “strikingly similar to Soros‘s” on this issue. The opposition now sees a chance to “force migration on Hungary” with the help of Brussels after it failed in the elections. “Hungary will not give in to blackmail,” he said.
On the topic of the EU budget and recovery fund, Gulyás said Hungary could not approve them in their current form because the rule of law criteria that are conditions for receiving funding were unclear. He insisted that only those countries that allow immigration are regarded as upholding the rule of law.
He said Hungary was dedicated to the rule of law and considered freedom of speech, opinion, assembly and the press, as well as the independence of the judiciary, as important.
Meeting these requirements is at least as much guaranteed in Hungary as in western Europe and much more than it used to be during left-wing governments when for instance in 2006, peaceful demonstrators were attacked and the EU’s reaction was that it was a domestic issue, he added.
Gulyás said that in principle Hungary disagreed with the idea of raising joint debt since if any one country went bankrupt, Hungary would also be liable. Even so, Hungary approved the package in the spirit of European solidarity, he said, adding that the fund had become a further means to “blackmail” Hungary to force it to change its migration policy.
In response to a question, Gulyás noted that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had already vetoed the EU budget and recovery package. He said that in its current form, the chances of the recovery package being implemented were “zero”.
In the EU’s history spanning more than seven decades, never before has funding been linked to any interests other than financial protection, he said.
Gulyás called charges against the government of corruption “a lie”, adding that the Hungarian government would be prepared to back significantly stricter rules on how EU money is s spent.
He said helping southern EU states was a priority. “The money could be handed to the southern states even tomorrow,” he said, adding that in this way Hungary would not be open to blackmail because of its immigration policy.
“If there’s a technical solution whereby payments are not linked to lax immigration, then we’d gladly be on board.”
Gulyás said the Hungarian economy was on a strong footing to see out the crisis. The deficit will be high due to the pandemic fallout but the public debt declined by 20 percent over ten years and there are now sufficient resources to take out credit, he added.
Asked about a statement by European People’s Party (EPP) President Donald Tusk and whether Fidesz may be expelled from the EPP, Gulyás cited a 2018 statement in which Tusk said making Poland’s EU funding conditional on the rule of law was risky and went in the wrong direction.
If Tusk were consistent, Gulyás said, “then we know he’d be among the supporters of the current Hungarian position”.
Soros: Europe must stand up to Hungary and Poland – Interview
US financier George Soros said in an opinion piece published on commentary portal Project Syndicate that Europe must stand up to Hungary and Poland.
Soros said the “EU can’t afford to compromise on the rule-of-law provisions it applies to the funds it allocates to member states.”
“How the EU responds to the challenge to those provisions now posed by Hungary and Poland will determine whether it survives as an open society true to the values upon which it was founded,” he added.
Soros said
Hungary and Poland had vetoed the European Union’s proposed seven-year budget and recovery fund because their governments were opposed to the rule-of-law conditionality that the EU had adopted and they did not want to pay the consequences.
For Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and “Poland’s de facto ruler” Jaroslaw Kaczynski “the rule of law represents a practical limit on personal and political corruption,” Soros said. “The veto is a desperate gamble by two serial violators,” he added.
“Orbán has constructed in Hungary an elaborate kleptocratic system to rob the country blind,” Soros said.
He said only the EU could help, for example by directing funds to local authorities, “where there is still a functioning democracy in Hungary, unlike at the national level”.
George Soros suggested in his opinion piece that “the Orbán-Kaczynski veto could be circumvented”.
Considering that the rule-of-law regulations have been adopted, “in case there is no agreement on a new budget, the old budget, which expires at the end of 2020, is extended on a yearly basis.”
“Hungary and Poland would not receive any payments under this budget, because their governments are violating the rule of law,” he added.
He said the question was whether the EU could “muster the political will”.
Full article on Project Syndicate.
Read alsoOrbán cabinet: We supported Trump, whereas Biden has been supported by George Soros
Orbán cabinet: We supported Trump, whereas Biden has been supported by George Soros
Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office criticised a recent municipality decree which allows a free public distribution of newspapers with at least four pages of its content prepared “by Mayor Karácsony’s propagandists”, insisting that even the pre-democratic Kadar regime had been “more shy when it came to limiting press freedom”.
As regards the situation of tourism in Budapest, Gulyás said the sector needed new business schemes that support domestic tourism.
Answering a question in connection with the central government’s introduction of a curfew between midnight and 5am, Gulyás said there were no obstacles to operating minimal public transport capacity in Budapest during the curfew’s duration. The other measures of free parking and more frequent services are aimed at reducing crowds on public transport, he said.
Commenting on the US presidential election, Gulyás said:
“We supported Donald Trump, whereas Joe Biden has been supported by George Soros which is not such a great starting point.”
Asked about Monday’s terrorist attack in Vienna, Gulyás said that “everything that is happening underscores the correctness of the Visegrad Group’s position on migration”. He added that Hungary’s national security services have been fully prepared to draw the necessary conclusions from the attack and take all necessary precautions to avoid such incidents.
“The most effective way to avoid such events is to continue the government’s anti-migration policy of the past years,” Gulyás said.
Hungary condemns any form of violence, Gulyas said, adding that “it is the duty of every organisation, institution and political party of the EU to take a clear position on these matters.”
“Violence cannot be a tool in any form,” he said.
Read alsoTrump vs Biden! Check out what Hungarians think
Fidesz, opposition divided on EC rule of law report
Hungarian MEPs on Wednesday were divided in their assessment of the European Commission’s rule of law report, with ruling Fidesz slamming the document as “open political blackmail” and the opposition Socialists blaming the government for the report’s criticisms regarding the state of the rule of law in Hungary.
Balázs Hidvéghi, an MEP of ruling Fidesz, said the report was “riddled with absurd and false claims” and that it had only taken into consideration the views of organisations linked to Hungarian-born US financier George Soros.
“This is a Soros report dictated to the European Commission and [EC Vice-President] Vera Jourova by these groups,” Hidvéghi told a press conference.
He said the report also contained factual inaccuracies which the Hungarian government had “already cleared up on numerous occasions”.
Addressing the report’s criticism of the state of judicial independence in the country, Hidveghi noted that an independent court had just recently acquitted former Jobbik MEP Bela Kovacs of espionage charges.
“Many of us aren’t happy with this ruling but it goes to show that the courts in Hungary really do function independently,” he said.
Hidvéghi also rejected the allegation that the government had abused its power in its management of the novel coronavirus epidemic, saying that it had concentrated solely on protecting the Hungarian people.
Meanwhile, the Socialist party said that
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government had “failed as Europeans”,
citing the report as saying that Hungary had systemic problems pertaining to the rule of law.
Socialist MEP István Ujhelyi said that in its Rule of Law Report the EC had reviewed all member states and made its recommendations.
Ruling Fidesz’s “claims about double standards in Brussels” lack all credibility, Ujhelyi said.
“It is clear that the petty attacks against Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova were also meant to discredit the reports,” Ujhelyi said.
Ujhelyi said that by disregarding the EU’s laws and values, Fidesz “is putting Hungary’s funding from the EU at risk”.
Rather than “throwing tantrums”, Fidesz would do better to address systemic failures to uphold the rule of law, Ujhelyi said. He called on the government to guarantee press freedom, eliminate corruption and join the European Prosecutor’s Office.
Read alsoPM Orbán: EC vice-president Jourova ‘has insulted’ Hungary, must resign – UPDATE
Justice minister: Hungary chapter of EC rule of law report ‘absurd, false’
Justice Minister Judit Varga has called the European Commission Rule of Law Report “absurd and false”, adding that it “cannot serve as a basis for any further discussion on the rule of law in the European Union”.
In a Facebook post reacting to the rule of law report’s chapter on Hungary released by the EC on Wednesday, Varga called the report’s concept and methodology “flawed”, its sources “unbalanced” and its content “unfounded”.
Varga said the report made no references to objective benchmarks that equally applied to all member states, and its sources were “biased and non-transparent”.
“It is unacceptable that the Commission’s rule of law report is written by organisations from a centrally financed international network engaged in a coordinated political campaign against Hungary,” Varga said, noting that the Hungarian chapter referred to 12 NGOs, 11 of which “have in recent years received financial support from the Open Society Foundations related to [financier George] Soros“.
Hungary is one of the few member states where “genuine pluralism prevails” in the media and in general opinion, Varga said.
“In contrast to the Western European media landscape massively dominated by leftist and liberal outlets,”
Christian Democratic views also have access to publicity in Hungary, she said.
“An objective and impartial analysis of all reliable information concerning the situation in Hungary may only conclude that the fundamental values of the European Union are respected, and the rule of law is observed,” she said.
Vera Jourova, the Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, presenting the report earlier on Wednesday, said that although several member states had strict regulations in place to maintain the rule of law, some faced challenges to media freedom and the independence of the judicial system that could pose a danger to democratic values.
Read alsoPM Orbán: EC vice-president Jourova ‘has insulted’ Hungary, must resign – UPDATE
The foreign ministry made lists about Hungarian journalists’ foreign business trips
One of the deputy state secretaries wrote a letter to the Hungarian embassies in the European Union inquiring about the relevant information. Telex, a new Hungarian news portal existing only on Facebook yet, could acquire the letter and write the story on the social media platform.
According to telex.hu, the letter wanted information about Hungarian journalists’ business trips to the given EU member state. József Magyar, the deputy secretary signing the letter, wanted to know whether the country organised any visit, training, or study trips for Hungarian journalists recently. If the answer was yes, he wanted to know the date of the trips and
the name of those media outlets that took part in them.
Furthermore, he also inquired about the newspapers and organisations the journalists taking part in the trip visited during their training or study trip.
The ministry wrote the letter on June 2, and they expected to receive the answer to it by June 3, 1 pm. As for the short notice, deputy secretary Magyar said he was sorry.
Telex sent a long list of questions to the press department of the ministry asking for more details. They wanted to know why they were in a hurry regarding this issue, why they needed such a list, and what they did with the information acquired. The foreign ministry said that their task was to do everything to prevent any foreign intervention in the domestic affairs of Hungary. They added that, based on their experience,
Soros-organisations are behind such attacks.
Telex asked the aim of compiling such databases from Tamás Menczer, Minister of State for Communication and Hungary’s International Image at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, but neither of them answered.
Telex would like to become the next index.hu, which is currently the biggest Hungarian news website. As we reported before, however, the editorial board left the media outlet in August because they claimed that it was no longer independent from the influence of the government. The majority of the staff would like to create something new, so they started Telex on Facebook. Interestingly, they already have more than 300 thousand likes.
Orbán: preventive efforts could go on until the next general election in 2022
Speaking about Europe, Orbán said the continent “can even hardly see the back” of the United States and China, the two countries running a technological competition against one another on a military-economic basis.
“We can and we will protect the health and lives of people,” the prime minister said. “Nearly two million people gave their positions in the national consultation (survey) and determined how to proceed… Hungary must keep going!” he added. He insisted that protection must simultaneously be aimed at saving the lives of the elderly, and keeping kindergartens, schools, and workplaces open.
Hungary has a “fully prepared health care system, conscientious experts, and broad cooperation” which will ensure successful protection against the second wave of coronavirus, Orbán said, adding that success was also conditional on “everybody’s observing the rules”.
Orbán said that
preventive efforts could go on until the next general election in spring 2022.
He suggested that Hungary should acquire “a few million doses of the vaccine” expected to be completed next year and vaccinate people in a scheduled manner. He noted that nurses were being given a 70 percent payrise, adding that “a breakthrough is necessary in terms of doctors’ salaries”.
Concerning the economy, Orbán said that the government was working “not only to maintain the level reached during the past ten years but ensure that everybody can take a step further each year”. “Hungary cannot shrink, like a snail into its shell, but proceed, grow, expand, and rise like a rhapsody by Liszt,” he said.
The prime minister said he hoped Hungary would arrive at the 2020 elections “having successfully fenced off the epidemic, beefed up its health care, with an economic growth never seen before, full employment, a greater home construction boom than before and 13th month pensions being reintroduced.”
“Meanwhile, we will not have a moment of rest because of the Left wing,”
Orbán said, and insisted that the leftist parties were “busy undermining, weakening the national forces and cooperation, shooting at politicians and experts coordinating prevention against the epidemic, and telling on the country in Brussels,” Orbán said. “One does not know whether to laugh or cry,” he said, but warned that “our freedom will be at stake in 2022”.
Sovereign states are most jeopardised by “a global network advocating an open society, aimed at eliminating national structures, Orbán said, and insisted that
“George Soros‘s network… is aimed at building open societies of a mixed ethnicity through accelerating migration and dismantling national decision making competencies, and handing over those competencies to a global elite”.
That global elite “would not allow policies conflicting with its own interests in central Europe”, he added.
The global elite will “apply the same strategy in Hungary in the 2022 election campaign as in this year’s presidential election in Poland… using the repeatedly failed Left led by Ferenc Gyurcsány and having Momentum as its youth arm,”
Orbán said. “They are forces of the past that destroyed the country once before,” he said, adding that “the opposition no longer has parties with an independent will; they have been minced and processed like meat into sausage”. Once independent communities have now become a “leftist people’s party serving the Soros-network”, now preparing for a “decisive battle” in 2022, “backed by the international media, Brussels bureaucrats, and pseudo-civil NGOs”.
“We should have no doubts, they will do everything for power and money. It is time we deployed forces. After hard years of government we will have to return to the battleground of the election… a major battle awaits us in 2022. Get prepared!” the prime minister said in his article.
The US dollar “has knocked out” the euro, the European Union has isolated itself from Russian markets by…
The US dollar “has knocked out” the euro, the European Union has isolated itself from Russian markets by sanctions and has been purchasing major technologies from its rivals, Orbán said.
The West has lost its appeal in central Europe and “our way of life does not appear to be desirable to Westeners”, Orbán said, adding that “Europe must be kept together in the years to come so that there seems to be no chance of reversing this historical trend”.
Orbán said that in this “stalemate”, countries in Europe must find a way to work together “until the future of Europe is decided in Italy, for the right or the left”.
He said that the struggle for intellectual sovereignty and intellectual freedom launched several years ago in Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő) has begun to bear fruits, adding that the basis of those opposing “political correctness, the liberal doctrine” is becoming wider.
“But no matter how velvety the tone is in which we speak about illiberal democracy, the concept still rings awful in German and Anglo-Saxon ears; so far,” Orbán said.
The doctrine that “democracy can only be liberal” no longer stands, Orbán said, adding that the conservative and Christian Democratic parties will now have a chance “to free themselves from the life-threatening embrace of the liberals”.
Statements like “there is no such thing as an illiberal democracy” will from now on be recorded “in the book of political nonsense” no matter at what high level these statements are made, Orbán said.
He said that the approach was wrong that the separation of powers, civil and political freedoms, the protection of private property and the rule of law can only be achieved through the means of liberal democracy.
The principles of Christian Democrat and liberal ideologies are in stark contrast, he said. “The target of the liberals’ attacks are everything what are most important to us: the nation, family and religious traditions,” Orbán said.
Christian Democrats reject the liberal foreign policy which would expect from every country to accept liberal democracy, he said.
“That is why I keep my fingers crossed for Donald Trump’s victory, because we know well the foreign policy of American Democrat governments based on moral imperialism. We tasted it, even if forced. It did not taste good, so we do not want another serving of it,” Orbán said.
Christian Democrats and liberals do not see eye to eye over the issue of subsidiarity, either, Orbán said, and insisted that “while liberals think it good to transfer as many national governmental powers to international agencies, Christian Democrats know that such organisations are invariable likely to be arbitrary and vulnerable to influences such as that of the Soros network”. “Citizens of Europe’s nations realised early on that today’s European institutions do not serve them but the interests of figures like George Soros,” he added.
Orbán also pointed to a clash between liberals and conservatives concerning migration, and said that “liberals think that mass immigration is nothing to be feared, that terrorism, crime, anti-Semitism or the emergence of parallel societies are but transient problems; conservatives and Christian Democrats, however, reject social and human experiments of uncertain outcome” and reject “risking chronic intercultural tension and violence”.
On the subject of education, Orbán said that conservatives would focus on “distinct national traditions” and raise patriots and wish schools “to confirm children in their sexual identities determined by God and given to them at birth”. Schools should “help girls become hard-working and respectable women and boys become men able to ensure security and support their families”, he added.
Schools should protect the values and ideals of the family, and “keep gender ideology and the rainbow propaganda away from minors”, Orbán said.
Liberals may see that attitude “as the dark Middle Ages” or “clerical fascism”, Orbán said, but added that “Christian Democrats think that justice, public morals and the common good have not needed religion, Biblical traditions and the churches more than now for centuries”.
According to Orbán, the “only chance for Christian democracy is to stand up and declare the following four sentences that could turn the whole of Europe’s politics over: our national and Christian principles are not liberal; they were created before liberalism; they are antagonistic with liberalism; liberalism is today destroying them”.
Read alsoThe lord mayor of Budapest fights back: municipalities serve people better than the government
It is time to talk plainly about the role of Soros’s NGOs in the Mediterranean, says Hungarian FM
Hungary and Malta have formed a new alliance based on identical assessments of the problems facing the European Union and their concurrence on the issue of migration, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told a press conference after talks with his Maltese counterpart in Valletta on Tuesday.
“We agree that migration should be stopped rather than managed, especially in light of the coronavirus pandemic which has brought about new dangers [in Malta], too,” Szijjártó said. Whereas migration had been a risk in terms of security and cultural clashes, it is now a “tremendous” health risk, too, he said, adding the Maltese foreign and EU minister and he were in agreement aiding developments in Africa so that living standards improve there was essential to persuading people in Africa to stay at home.
“African countries need their young people, and Europe must make clear that entry to Europe can only be made legally,” the minister said.
Szijjártó also referred to billionaire financier George Soros, saying “it is time to talk plainly about the role of Soros’s NGOs in the Mediterranean”.
He accused such organisations of “blackmailing” Europeans regularly and forging alliances with human trafficking networks. He insisted that NGOs commit crimes by aiding migration because “illegal migration is itself a crime”.
“The time has come for Europe to put an end to blackmail by NGOs,” Szijjártó said.
The minister said he and his Maltese counterpart agreed that spending on development and investments by the European Union should be tied to the willingness and ability of African countries to stop the outflow of migrants.
He noted that two-and-a-half years ago the Visegrad Group of countries had given EU 35 million euros to strengthen the Libyan coast guard and to buy boats for the purpose, but, he added, Brussels had not bought any yet. The European Commission is now being asked to involve Malta in the procurement of 2-3 boats, he said.
Read alsoIt is time to talk plainly about the role of Soros’s NGOs in the Mediterranean, says Hungarian FM
NATO-allies? This is what Slovaks in the “most Slovak city” think about Hungarians – VIDEO
Hungarian news website, Azonnali, went to Turócszentmárton (Martin), the “most Slovak city” of Slovakia to talk with locals about what they think about Hungary and the Hungarians. An old lady said that all Slavs are open-hearted while Hungarians are not, they just want to get more and more money. A man added that George Soros is behind everything wrong that happens in Slovakia. More details below!
Azonnali could speak with a local Hungarian who said that, before, there were 26 members in the local “Hungarian club” but, at present, there remained only 8. He added that in Martin you can speak any languages, nobody cares, except for the Hungarian. For example, if he talks with his friend in Hungarian at a bus stop, everybody stares at them.
Martin is an interesting place in Slovakia because Slovaks regard the city the birthplace of Slovak nationalism. Thus, it is not surprising that, in 1918, leaders of the Slovaks proclaimed that they no longer would like to be part of the Kingdom of Hungary and instead they would like to join the forming Czechoslovakia here.
People Azonnali asked said that the destruction of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was good. A woman said that she can still count to 3 in Hungarian because her grandfather learned Hungarian and he taught her that. A man said that
Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and Hungarians should join together against George Soros.
He added that his nieces married Hungarian men, but that is not a bad thing, at all.
A woman said that Slovaks always lived in Martin and Hungarians just came in to conquer the land. However,
if Slovaks joined Russia, they could have expelled all Hungarians to somewhere in Turkey.
You may watch the video below but, unfortunately, its makers did not attach English subtitles:
About what they think about Hungarians living in Slovakia, a man said that they have rights so they have nothing to complain about. Interestingly, even the Slovak prime minister, Igor Matovic, apologised for the injustices the Hungarians had to live through because they did not want to give up their mother tongue.
A woman said that he feels sorry that she does not speak Hungarian and she cannot understand what people say in the Southern parts of the country where Hungarians live in the majority. She added that
their grandparents knew Hungarian and German
but nobody taught her generation Hungarian in the schools.
The Hungarian man Azonnali could talk with said that his children do not speak Hungarian because they did not want to learn the language.
Another man said that Hungary regards all its citizens Hungarian while, in Slovakia, the state gives further rights to local Hungarians (that is simply not true since the Hungarian system gives extra rights to use one’s own language in education to all ethnic minorities living in the country – the editor). He also said that George Soros would like to use the “Hungarian” and the “Roma” card against the Slovak government and to
destabilise Slovakia.
Another man said that he does not have any problems with the Hungarians, but he does not like that in Érsekújvár (Nové Zámky) more people speak Hungarian than Slovakian.
An old woman said that Slavs are all open-hearted, but Hungarians are not, they just want more and more money. She added that all minorities should adjust to the majority but
Hungarians are different. They are an aggressive nation.
George Soros on turning 90, coronavirus, and Donald Trump
George Soros, one of the most well-known Hungarians from the past years, turned 90 this week. The Hungarian-American billionaire who rarely gives interviews but is active regarding social and political questions now talked about the coronavirus, the threats on open society, Donald Trump, and the weakness of the European Continent to an Italian magazine called La Repubblica.
Forbes reported that the 90-year-old Soros still plays tennis three times a week and considers the coronavirus epidemic the greatest tragedy and most threatening phenomenon since World War II. According to Soros, people have become uncertain and scared, and they act without common sense but with the knowledge that what they are doing is wrong.
Soros also expressed his thoughts on the difference between Europe and the United States.
“I think Europe is very vulnerable, much more so than the United States. The United States is one of the longest-lasting democracies in history. But even in the United States, a confidence trickster like Trump can be elected president and undermine democracy from within. But in the US you have a great tradition of checks and balances and established rules. And above all, you have the Constitution. So I am confident that Trump will turn out to be a transitory phenomenon, hopefully ending in November but until then he remains to be very dangerous,” reported Soros’s official website.
Soros continued by saying that the EUR 750 billion EU recovery fund has been one of the greatest ideas of the union. Soros thinks that “the EU took a very important positive step forward by committing itself to borrow money from the market on a much larger scale. But then several states, the so-called Frugal Five – the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark and Finland – managed to make the actual agreement less effective.”
The Hungarian-American billionaire is still active, although other news portals writing about his 90th birthday stated that he was already weak 11 years ago.
According to the American Forbes Magazine, Soros was the third person between 2014 and 2018 who donated the most amount of many to charities and other organisations, approximately $3.1 billion. Alongside his donations, he is also eager to fund a brand-new university after CEU.
Coronavirus – Orbán: Hungary ‘won’t hesitate’ to act in event of second wave
If there are any signs of a second wave of the novel coronavirus epidemic “we won’t hesitate to take the necessary legal and economic steps,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday.
Hungary’s successful response to the epidemic saved tens of thousands of lives, Orbán said in an interview to public broadcaster Kossuth Radio, adding that this was “a major feat”.
Read alsoBorder crossing: who is allowed to enter Hungary and for what reason?
On the subject of the planned EU recovery fund, he said the idea of a joint loan went against the grain of Hungarians’ “instincts”, but Hungary would not be able avoid giving its consent “due to the dire financial situation of many countries”. Borrowing, he added, presented both a danger and an opportunity.
Whether it turned out to be one or the other depended on how smartly the funds were spent, he said.
The prime minister said a working group has been set up under the leadership of the innovation and technology minister to prepare schemes that the EU recovery plan can finance. Electricity transmission, water management and restructuring university finances are possible areas of developments, among others, he said.
As regards the pandemic, the prime minister insisted that the Hungarian health-care system had done a better job of managing the epidemic than those in western Europe. Hungary’s preparations for possible mass infections was built on “military logic” and this scenario was avoided as a result, he said.
Read alsoCoronavirus – Another 2 confirmed infections in Hungary, no deaths
Orbán attributed Hungary’s successful handling of the epidemic to discipline and unity, saying that these practices would be needed again in the event of a second wave. He said Hungary’s level of preparedness in terms of the tools needed to combat an epidemic was satisfactory.
Orbán said he had spoken on Thursday with his Slovenian counterpart Janez Jansa, who had said Slovenia was reintroducing certain entry restrictions. “This is an important warning,” Orbán said. “We’ve got to be careful.”
Concerning Western criticisms levelled against the emergency powers handed to the goverment in March in response to the coronavirus outbreak, Orbán said the map of Europe today presented a “shocking revelation”.
“During the days of communist rule, we only attributed positive meanings to the word ‘Western’ and used to laugh at Soviet progapandistic claims . that ‘black people are getting beaten up in America’ and that Western youth are ‘lost in the ecstasy of Coca-Cola’,” he said. But in reality, Orbán said, people in western Europe today were dying because of a lack of care, large economies are having to be saved from financial ruin and “there is a wave of violence, gang warfare and statues are being toppled”.
“I look at the countries telling us how to live properly, how to govern, how to run a democracy, and I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”
Concerning Thursday’s ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that the restrictions imposed by Hungary on the foreign funding of civil groups do not comply with EU law, Orbán said western Europe and “the American left” were attempting to apply a form of “liberal imperialism” to “force their worldview onto countries that think differently”. He added that international courts, too, were “often also involved in this network”.
Seeing the Hungarians who participate in these rulings, Orbán said, it was “easy to spot the ties” to the “international network” linked to US financier George Soros, which the prime minister called “the western European high command of liberal imperialism”.
Orbán noted, at the same time, that press reports about the ruling conceded that transparency was a legitimate goal that needed to be achieved with fewer restrictions. “So complying with this ruling won’t be difficult,” he said.
Organisations involved in political life should all be subject to the same transparency regulations, the prime minister said, arguing that parliamentary parties should not have to abide by stricter rules than other groups involved in politics that are not vying for parliamentary representation.
He said all Hungarians would have knowledge of every forint spent by foreign entities on political goals. “Those who don’t hesitate to accept money from abroad shouldn’t be ashamed to discolse that.”
Orbán insisted that certain people in Hungarian political life were bent on watering down the country’s sovereignty and handing powers to Brussels.
He said putting Hungary’s independence at risk would hamstring the authorities’ ability to ensure foreign students follow rules on preventing the spread of the infection. In such cases, these political actors, he said, were not on the side of Hungarians but backed “foreigners” instead. Orbán added that there was a “150-year history of certain Hungarian politicians working against their country on the international stage.”
On the topic of the new national consultation, the prime minister said the government stood for national independence, but this stand entailed “constant struggle” with people abroad and with “internal agents” doing Soros’s bidding. He said holding elections every four years was not enough to combat these malign influences. The majority of Hungarians must demonstrate the same position on certain issues, he said, adding that this entailed forming a national consensus on how to handle a possible second wave of the coronavirus epidemic and rebooting the economy.
Orbán cabinet publishes public survey questionnaire
The government has published thirteen questions to be put to the Hungarian public in the National Consultation in connection with the novel coronavirus and restarting the economy.
Released on Monday on kormany.hu, the survey’s introduction notes that all countries around the world have had to contend with an unprecedented situation. “We Hungarians banded together and took timely measures, and managed to curb the epidemic,” it says, adding that doctors and epidemiologists want the country to stay alert for a possible second wave of the epidemic.
The first question concerns what measures citizens would support if the epidemic re-emerged.
The nine options given are: curfew, physical distancing, mask-wearing, border closures, shuttering schools and universities and going over to a digital platform, restricting events, maintaining separate shopping times for over-65s, restricting exports of equipment used for public protection, and free parking.
Further questions will concern the level of preparedness to be maintained in the health-care system, ways to strengthen the protection of care homes, the production of protection equipment in Hungary, whether the internet should be made free of charge for households with children and teachers during the epidemic as well as whether an epidemiological monitoring service should be established on a permanent basis in Hungary.
Regarding the economy, citizens will be asked whether banks and multinationals should contribute towards the costs arising from the epidemic, whether a preference for domestic products and services should be encouraged and whether domestic tourism should be promoted.
Further, citizens will be asked whether job-protection and job-creation schemes should be maintained after the epidemic.
On the subject of the idea mooted by financier George Soros on issuing perpetual bonds to handle the economic fallout of the epidemic, respondents will be asked whether they reject the “plan” which would “place a burden of debt on Hungary for a long time”.
Also, respondents can give their opinion on whether Hungarian companies should be protected from hostile takeover bids. The final two questions concern migration, and whether the government should continue to take action against migration and maintain strict controls at the Hungarian border.
Further, it asks whether the government should maintain a ban on migration even at the price of being in “conflict with Brussels”.
The questionnaire will be posted to households and can be returned by August 15.