George Soros
Orbán: Hungarians have come together to fight the novel coronavirus epidemic, bar the left wing – INTERVIEW
Hungarians have come together to fight the novel coronavirus epidemic, bar the left wing, which “has gone missing in action”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to public broadcaster Kossuth Radio on Friday.
Orbán said “discipline and cooperation” had been key to the success of Hungary’s protection efforts.
But all the leftist parties were capable of doing was criticising hospitals and the staff coordinating those efforts before taking “shameful leave”, he said.
Orbán said granting special emergency powers to the government had been “one of the best decisions” since it allowed for timely action, without “having to fight the leftist opposition”, thereby avoiding mass infections in Hungary.
The prime minister singled out Miklós Kásler, the minister of human resources, for praise, saying he and his team heading health-care staff had acted promptly. Kásler, acting on his “good instinct”, set up his team “when everybody was still in a slumber” and Hungary “gained one or two weeks ahead of everyone else”, Orbán added.
He said the danger had not passed, however, and everyone should remain alert and prepared, adding that the central board coordinating efforts against the epidemic would continue its operations.
Orbán insisted that successful protection measures had saved thousands of lives of the elderly.
The prime minister said that those mayors who had taken “instructions from the leftist parties” and lambasted the government had poor results to show for it. Those, however, who recognised that the epidemic went beyond party politics, and were willing to cooperate, had “done well”, he said.
Meanwhile, more than one million employees have received some kind of government help, ensuring they can retain their jobs, he said.
The government must help people get and retain jobs rather than benefits, Orbán said.
Currently, over 101,000 people receive jobless benefits, while 71,000 have been unemployed for more than three months and have applied for a subsidy for their lost income.
“There are 173,000 Hungarians who’d like to work but haven’t found a job and have turned to the government for help,” he said.
The government, he said, has increased the number of jobs in public works schemes to 200,000, and is planning to recruit a further 3,000 paid soldiers. In addition, a “huge amount” of assistance is being provided to companies that create new jobs, he said.
Concerning the economic outlook, Orbán said he expected “an April with difficult figures” but a return to “earlier levels of economic performance much sooner than we first thought”. “I can see the steps of that process,” Orbán said, adding that he planned to set up a body of economic experts similar to the central operative board that handles the epidemic. “Energies in the next few months will be focused on protecting jobs, restarting the economy and re-introducing the 13th month pension.”
Orbán said he may personally head the new board coordinating economic rescue measures.
On the topic of transit zones, Orbán said
“the Brussels bureaucrats” had been “resurrected” due to the European Court of Justice’s ruling, which was “dangerous” not only for Hungary’s security but for that of Europe as a whole.
Migrants will now have to wait “beyond the fence” from now on, he added.
The prime minister said that 130,000 migrants were gathered along the so-called Balkan route, so pressure on Hungary’s border was increasing. “We’re facing a difficult few months.”
If migrants want to enter Hungary, they must now lodge an application at a Hungarian embassy, he said. The situation for migrants will be worse than before the European court ruling, he added.
“But if the Brussels bureaucrats insist, we’ll meet their need,” he said.
The prime minister said the European Union was unlikely to leave the situation as its stands because they wanted migrants to be able to wait in Hungary.
But anyone applying for asylum will not be allowed to stay in Hungary without the proper controls in place, he added.
At the same time, Hungary’s self defence must not be at the expense of neighbouring countries, he said. If Serbia, say, asks for help in protecting its southern border, “we will go tomorrow morning”. “If the Croats … or even if the Romanians ask for help, we stand ready”.
Orbán accused “Brussels bureaucrats” of being “in the pocket of [financier] George Soros“.
“They need a migrant crisis,” he said, adding that governments under pressure needed credit, and financiers were only too happy to lend it with interest. He said Soros was a “great master” when it came to “plundering” countries.
Verhofstadt malicious and harmful, says Hungarian FM Szijjártó
Hungary’s foreign minister has branded Guy Verhofstadt “malicious” and “harmful”, someone who does his best to weaken European nation states.
Responding to the liberal MEP’s comparison of Hungary’s law on combatting the coronavirus epidemic to Hitler’s Enabling Act, Péter Szijjártó said on Facebook on Tuesday that Verhofstadt had shown himself time and again to be unfit for civilised debate.
Referring to financier George Soros,
the minister accused Verhofstadt of being a “key figure” in implementing “the Soros plan”.
He said that since Verhofstadt was not a Hungarian voter, “it doesn’t matter what he thinks about Hungarian law”.
“It’s Hungarians who matter to us,” he wrote.
“We are protecting their health and jobs, whatever Guy Verhofstadt says,” he added.
Orbán cabinet slams Soros for ‘political profiteering’
Hungary’s state secretary for international communications and relations on Monday slammed financier George Soros for “political profiteering”.
Commenting on a Soros interview published by Project Syndicate’s blog, as well as an article by Guy Verhofstadt calling Prime Minister Viktor Orbán a populist and a dictator, Kovács wrote on Facebook:
“It is interesting to call someone a dictator for placing the decision on ending the state of emergency into the hands of parliament. That the majority in that parliament is held by parties not to [the authors’] taste is a democratic decision of the Hungarian people.”
Verhofstadt, a group leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament, compared the Hungarian law on the protection efforts against the novel coronavirus to Hitler’s Enabling Act of 1933.
Far more worrying, however, are populist efforts to use the crisis to undermine democracy. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a case in point. Having spent the last decade attacking the free press, NGOs, and political opponents, Orbán has used the COVID-19 crisis as pretext to push through legislation that enables him to rule by decree indefinitely. This is Europe’s first such dictatorial démarche since Adolf Hitler’s Enabling Act of 1933.
“What they brand as populism can be defined with Abraham Lincoln’s words: of the people, by the people, for the people,” Kovács said.
Meanwhile, Soros is proposing perpetual bonds to handle the economic fallout after the coronavirus pandemic, a tool that would “plunge his professed homeland, Europe, deep into debt”, Kovács said.
Read alsoCoronavirus – Soros donates 1 million EUR to Budapest to fight the epidemic
Coronavirus – Soros donates 1 million EUR to Budapest to fight the epidemic
The foundation of Hungarian-born American billionaire George Soros donated 1 million EUR to Budapest for the fight with the coronavirus epidemic, which spreads across the country faster and faster.
The Open Society Foundations, founded by George Soros, are the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights. George Soros opened his first international foundation in Hungary in 1984.
Today, the Open Society Foundations support a vast array of projects in more than 120 countries, providing thousands of grants every year through a network of national and regional foundations and offices.
Index reported that, according to Soros, the epidemic knows no borders. Not just Hungary; every single country in the world is in danger, especially the elderly citizens and those who lost their jobs. Local governments and Budapest find themselves in an extraordinary and never-happened-before situation where they have to control a whole nation out of a limited budget.
“I was born in Budapest shortly after the Spanish flu epidemic ended, and the world was tossed into a global recession. The epidemic killed thousands of Hungarians. I survived World War II, the years of terror following it and I remember life in Budapest back in those difficult days.”
Because of the extraordinary emergency and the love Soros has for Budapest the Hungarian billionaire did not hesitate to donate 1 million EUR through his foundation to provide financial support for the state to stop the epidemic.
George Soros to launch a global university network
It was reported in January, that Soros would like to create a higher education network for which he donates 1 billion dollars. The institution aims to help students to prepare for the global challenges of the present and the future, says an announcement of Soros’s Open Society Foundation. The institution is going to operate under the name of Open Society University Network, and it aims to bring together students and teachers from various academic fields.
Orbán: Coronavirus is likely to reach Hungary
The coronavirus is likely to reach Hungary, and the Hungarian government is preparing to combat an outbreak even though there are no confirmed cases in the country as yet, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told public Kossuth Radio on Friday.
Hungary has the equipment ready to identify the COVID-19 virus and epidemiologists of international reputation, he said. There is a 24-hour on-call system in place as well as screening protocols at border crossings, with a special focus on airports, he added.
Read alsoOrbán: Coronavirus is likely to reach Hungary
Orbán called on Hungarians to cooperate and refrain from travelling to areas hit by the virus. “We are on the eve of a pandemic,” he warned.
He warned that, although it may be true that more die of the flu than of a COVID-19 infection, “we know influenza … and can protect ourselves”.
People’s “panic reactions” are therefore “not entirely groundless, we are facing an unknown calamity,” he said.
All important information is going to be made public immediately, he added.
Read alsoHungary – Stores have a shortage of sanitisers and dry food due to coronavirus
On another subject, Orbán said that the government’s main political rival was “George Soros and his associates” rather than the opposition. The former circle “poses a greater threat for the country and the government” than the opposition, he said, insisting that Soros had earlier taken “three major manoeuvres aimed at looting the country”.
“Soros’s financial empire aims to gain influence over government decisions so as to reap financial benefits,” he said, adding that “regrettably the Hungarian opposition has merged with Soros’s network”.
Soros and the “media, journalists, activists, and NGOs he finances” are a “well-organised plain-clothes network commanded in a military manner” that will “attack governments on obvious instruction from its centre”, Orbán said.
Commenting on the European Union’s next budget, Orbán urged a fair distribution of the burdens, rich countries paying more “or at least not less” than poorer EU members. Hungary currently contributes more, relative to its per capita GDP, than the Netherlands or Germany, he added.
Hungarian parliament suspends compensation payments to prisoners
Parliament on Tuesday voted to suspend compensation payments to inmates who have sued the state over conditions in overcrowded prisons until June 15.
The new legislation, passed with 139 votes in favour, two against and four abstentions, also stipulates that the government must prepare a proposal for rules governing compensation to the victims of crime before May 15, based on the results of a national public survey now under way.
Under the new law, the government is obliged to ensure that by Sept. 30 the occupancy rate of prisons does not exceed 100 percent.
In future, any amount paid in compensation to a prisoner will be transferred directly to their bank account or added to their deposit managed by the prison to avoid abuse of payments.
Ruling Fidesz lawmaker Gyula Budai said after the vote that
the left wing had “again sided with criminals and the Soros network”.
Neither Democratic Coalition (DK), nor the Socialists, nor Párbeszed voted in favour of the suspension of payments, he told a press conference. Referring to US financier George Soros, Budai said that international attacks are expected from the Soros network who will “attack us on all fronts to protect themselves” and so that they could continue their “multi-billion business”. Fidesz is asking Hungarians to give voice to their opinions at the upcoming national consultation survey after which new regulations will be introduced in order “to close the money taps for good,” he added.
Fidesz cabinet: ‘Soros network’ incites hatred between Hungarians, Roma
The “Soros network” of organisations supported by US billionaire George Soros is trying to incite hatred between Hungarians and Roma in connection with a school segregation case in the north Hungarian village of Gyöngyöspata, co-ruling Christian Democrats lawmaker Lorinc Nacsa said on behalf of the ruling parties on Saturday.
This is why they are organising a protest march in Budapest on Sunday, he told a press conference.
“Soros organisations” financed from abroad have repeatedly tried to interfere in Hungarian domestic politics and exercise pressure in areas such as migration policy, Nacsa said.
Read alsoOrbán: Soros ‘world’s number-one oligarch’
“The real aim of the Soros network is to push aside the anti-migration national government of Hungary and give way to its own left-liberal puppets,” he added.
The Debrecen Appeal Court in September 2019 ruled that Roma children in Gyongyospata were segregated unlawfully at school and their right to equal treatment was violated. The court required the local authority and the school district to pay compensation of 100 million forints (EUR 297.700) to the children’s families for each year spent in segregation.
Read alsoOrbán: ‘Soros Network’ behind migration in the Balkans
The local authority and the school district asked the Kuria to review the binding ruling last year.
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”.
Read alsoOrbán: Soros ‘world’s number-one oligarch’
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.
Read alsoSurvey: Majority of Hungarians want to ban ‘pro-migration NGOs’
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”.
George Soros to launch a global university network
The American philanthropist and billionaire who was born in Hungary would like to create a higher education network for which he donates 1 billion dollars. The institution aims to help students to prepare for the global challenges of the present and the future, says an announcement of Soros’s Open Society Foundation.
The institution is going to operate under the name of Open Society University Network, and it aims to bring together students and teachers from various academic fields, Index reported. They will create courses and joint training programs accessible not only online but also at the universities participating in the initiative. The core of this new network will be the Central European University (CEU).
The foundation added in their statement that
they would like to reach handicapped social groups like refugees, those serving their prison sentence, the Roma people, and those who had to leave their homes.
Furthermore, they will start a scholarship program in which they would like to bring together the teachers and researchers who are persecuted because of their political views.
- Soros receives Highest Viennese honour for CEU
- CEU opens free courses in Hungarian language
- Soros to give even more money to the CEU – video
George Soros said about the project that education should promote critical thinking and the autonomy of each individual through academic freedom. Furthermore, he thinks that the range of those having the opportunity to continue their studies should be widened. He added that the Open Society Foundation cannot develop a network in and of itself. But he hopes that
those sharing his vision will join in realising this new project.
Based on the statement of the foundation, the Hungarian-born American philanthropist has already donated 32 billion dollars on projects promoting social justice and education.
Orbán cabinet: European Liberals’ migration proposal reflects “Soros plan”
The European Parliament’s Renew Europe group’s recent “pro-migration” proposal reflects the “Soros plan”, Zoltán Kovács, state secretary at the prime minister’s cabinet office, said in a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday.
“One could think that nearly five years after the migration crisis Europe’s responsible politicians have admitted the failure of their pro-migration policy,” Kovács said, adding, however, that “unfortunately, the situation is different”.
Parties in the Renew Europe group, including Hungary’s Momentum, “see an opportunity rather than a hazard in migration; they would manage [migration] rather than stem it”, Kovács said. “They seek to promote the influx of migrants and allow for the unification of families, they would grant migrants citizenship and oblige European Union members to participate in their distribution,” the state secretary said.
“What all this means is putting pro-migration plans, which failed so spectacularly in 2015, back on the agenda,” he insisted.
Three-quarters of Hungarians reject ‘prison business’ compensation payments
Three-quarters of Hungarians reject the payment of compensation to inmates who have taken Hungary to court over insufficient prison conditions which has been described by ruling Fidesz as a “prison business”, a survey by the Századvég Foundation released on Tuesday showed.
Századvég surveyed Hungarians’ views on court rulings that recently caused significant public debate because they involved the state having to pay significant compensation to inmates.
“Hungarian voters have a negative opinion on the procedures that have been initiated with the involvement of NGOs linked to [US financier] George Soros,” Századvég said citing the results of the survey.
More than two-thirds or 78 percent of those interviewed said they did not share the NGOs position that it was fair to demand compensation and only 14 percent said the opposite
. Some 8 percent of those interviewed said they had no opinion in the matter.
The survey also showed that
86 percent of right-wing voters and 73 percent of centrists rejected compensation payment proposed by NGOs, as against 7 percent and 19 percent, respectively, agreeing with NGOs and 7 percent and 8 percent, respectively, not having an opinion.
Among left-wing voters, 69 percent said they were against paying compensation, 23 percent said it was fair to pay and 8 percent said they had no opinion, Századvég added.
Read alsoSurvey: this is why Hungarians cheat on their partners
Orbán: Soros ‘world’s number-one oligarch’
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has called George Soros “the world’s number-one oligarch”, accusing the US financier of “influencing European politics via his mafia-style network”.
Orbán said in a radio interview that Soros’s network had been behind European Parliament moves to censure Hungary and Poland. He said Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party had been “an inch away” from leaving the European People’s Party (EPP) on Thursday.
Referring to the EP resolution on the rule of law in Hungary and Poland and broad EPP support for it, Orbán said the reason why Fidesz was so close to quitting was that the majority of the party family “betrayed us”.
Read alsoEP adopts resolution against Hungary, Poland
He said the French, Spanish and Italian MEPs in the EPP, however, “were clearly on our side”, and in the debate they argued that the party family should stand up for Hungary. Given this backing, the prime minister said there was hope for a change in the EPP. “Hope is dwindling but it’s still there. Otherwise we would not be members this morning,” he said, adding that he would meet the Austrian and German chancellors, as well as EPP leader Donald Tusk before making a decision.
At the same time, this situation cannot remain as it is, he added. If the EPP does not stick up for Hungary, “we’ll have to launch a new European Christian-Democratic movement”. “We will have allies,” Orbán said.
Orbán said the outcome of the vote in Strasbourg had been unsurprising as the majority in favour of censuring Hungary were from the EP’s pro-migration wing. He added that the “Soros network” of groups allied to US financier George Soros was “very active in the EP and European politics”.
He called Soros “the world’s number one oligarch” who “influences European political life via a mafia-like network.”
Read alsoOrbán: Soros ‘world’s number-one oligarch’
On the topic of the new Austrian government, Orbán said that before the collapse of the first coalition government headed by Sebastian Kurz, he had anticipated a future in which parties to his right would work together on a Christian basis and that Austria would be quick to join such an initiative. But after the Austrian election, Kurz’s center-right party allied with the greens, reflecting two major challenges the world faces: migration and climate change.
Orbán said that from Hungary’s point of view, it was positive that Austria’s hardline stance on migration and border protection would not change. Further, Kurz wants to boost competitiveness, which dovetails with the aspirations of the Visegrad Group. But, he added, Austrians are anti-nuclear, and this carries with it implications for Hungary due to its investment in the Paks nuclear power plant.
Kurz signalled that this area would be a sticking point in the coming years, Orbán said.
Meanwhile, on the subject of lawsuits launched by prisoners dissatisfied with prison conditions, Orbán said they were being spearheaded by “clever, well-known groups of lawyers” who were taking advantage of “loose and absurd” European definitions of torture. He accused such lawyers of stiffing the state of billions of forints. He cited the example of a 33-year-old man who had received 8 million forints in compensation after spending eight and a half years as an inmate. The prime minister said this was an abuse of rights, so payments will be suspended and the government will submit a change of rules to parliament.
On the subject of school segregation of Roma children in Gyöngyöspata, Orbán said: “Hungarians are not racist; they do not reject Gypsies by default.” But Hungarians “will never accept giving money for nothing.” Orbán said the courts had delivered an “unfortunate ruling”, and he accused the litigators of being funded by “Soros organisations”. He called the case “a provocation” that harmed policymaking aimed at improving the situation of Gypsy-Hungarian cohabitation and lifting Gypsies out of poverty.
Hungarian ruling parties decry lawsuits over prison conditions
The ruling parties have called for a halt to lawsuits against the state over poor prison conditions.
The group leader of the junior ruling Christian Democrats, Lőrinc Nacsa, told a press conference on Sunday that
“murderers, child killers, robbers, fraudsters and rapists” were receiving hefty amounts in compensation thanks to activist lawyers taking the state to court.
“This prison business has developed into an industry,” Nacsa said, adding that “criminals and lawyers earn fortunes of 6-10 million forints (EUR 18,000-30,000) in each case”.
“Thousands of suits of this type have been launched by clever lawyers aided by the Soros-network,” he said, adding that criminals should be punished rather than rewarded.
Nacsa insisted that prison conditions had improved considerably over the past years, noting an increase in prison capacity and the ongoing construction of new facilities.
Read alsoBoy brutally abused in a children’s home in Kaposvár – VIDEO
Fidesz: Budapest mayor’s pact with V4 mayors ‘immigration alliance of liberal leftists’
Commenting on a recent pact signed by the mayors of the capital cities of the Visegrad Group countries in Budapest, the spokesman of the co-ruling Christian Democrats’ parliamentary group said the agreement amounted to “no more than a pro-migration alliance of liberal, left-wing politicians”.
Lőrinc Nacsa noted at a news conference that
Gergely Karácsony, the Mayor of Budapest, had signed the agreement at the campus of the Central European University, which he dubbed “the Soros University” after its founder, the billionaire George Soros.
Nacsa insisted that this location indicated that Soros, “an immigration billionaire”, was striving to gain power and influence in the V4 countries. Karácsony, he added, had “openly entered into this pro-migration alliance on behalf of Budapest”.
Karácsony, he said, had joined mayors who “want to implement Soros’s open society”.
Brussels, he insisted, had promised EU money to pay for a plan backed by Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the European Commission, “to welcome migrants to Budapest and other central European capitals”.
Read alsoMayors of V4 countries’ capitals sign “Pact of Free Cities”
Orbán cabinet: EU hearing ‘ideological campaign masked as legal process’
Commenting on the latest round of Article 7 proceedings against Hungary in the European Union’s General Affairs Council on Tuesday, the government’s top communications official branded the proceedings as a “relentless legal process masking what is really an ideological campaign”.
Zoltán Kovács, the state secretary of international communications and relations at the Prime Minister’s Office, described the process as being driven by “self-proclaimed NGOs and their left-wing allies in Brussels” working in cahoots with US financier George Soros.
“The Soros choir is ready to take the stage,” he said on Twitter.
Hungary, he said, is ready to work with the EU to address problematic issues. He added, however, that it was now clear that the accusations against Hungary were driven by revenge on the part of the pro-migration majority in the European Parliament. “We’re attacked because we reject migration.”
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Judit Varga said she was ready to defend Hungary at the second hearing of the Article 7 procedure.
Varga told the press before the hearing that it was “the current episode of a repeated political witch hunt against Hungary”.
She added that the procedure launched more than 15 months ago, “based on false accusations”, was “not leading anywhere”, and had only succeeded in draining confidence between member states.
In September last year, the EP adopted a resolution based on a report by Judith Sargentini of the Dutch Green Party, calling for the Article 7 procedure on the grounds that Hungary was at risk of compromising the bloc’s core values such as the observance of the rule of law, including the functioning of the constitutional and electoral system and the independence of the judiciary.
The report also referred to problems with corruption and freedom of expression and freedom in academic life.
Pro-migration forces continue to attack Hungary, says foreign minister
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Sunday said pro-migration forces are continuing their attacks on Hungary, after his counterpart in Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn, again criticised Hungary for not taking in illegal migrants.
Szijjártó said that in an article published in the German daily Tagesspiegel on Sunday, Asselborn also said that the rule of law in Hungary is “in poor shape”.
In a statement, Szijjártó said that
Asselborn is an “ally” of US financier George Soros, outgoing European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and EC deputy head Frans Timmermans.
They want to organise migration, while Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as an ally of the Hungarian people, fights against it, he said.
Rule of law in Hungary puts the rights and the security of the Hungarian people first, Szijjártó said. It is also a country that observes EU regulations by protecting its borders which are also the EU’s, he said.
Soros receives Highest Viennese honour for CEU
Vienna’s Mayor Michael Ludwig welcomed the establishment of the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna and presented the Great Golden Medal of Merit to the Hungarian-born investor and philanthropist, George Soros, for his services to the State of Vienna.
Euronews reports that CEU opens its gates in Vienna this week.
Since December 2018, it has been known that CEU will move all of its US-accredited degree programs from Hungary to Vienna, as the Hungarian government made it impossible for the establishment to function in the Hungarian capital.
While presenting Soros with the medal, Vienna’s Mayor also expressed his concerns regarding anti-democratic developments in “the neighbouring countries,” a.k.a. Hungary, which led to the relocation of the university in the first place.
In his acceptance speech, George Soros emphasised how grateful he was for the establishment of the CEU in Vienna. He also referred to one of his tutors, Karl Poppers, who was sent away from Vienna to London. Poppers has a huge influence on Soros. His idea of an open society is still the driving force behind Soros’s socio-political involvement.
George Soros is the founder and most important supporter of the internationally renowned Central European University (CEU) based in New York and now also in Vienna. The CEU is shaped by the basic idea of cosmopolitanism and democracy.
Hungarian court gave political asylum to a Russian politician in spite of the government’s will
A court of Pécs decided to give political asylum to Aleksei Torubarov, a well-known Russian opposition politician, even though the Hungarian authorities declined his application. The arbitrament is expected to establish a precedent since the Hungarian court adopted a general ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union saying that any court in a country can grant political asylum even if national authorities refuse to do so.
The 60-year-old Russian citizen from Volgograd was originally a teacher, but after capitalism arrived in Russia, he became a businessman, mainly selling inexpensive Chinese clothing. Soon enough he had enough capital to start a restaurant, which by 2008 became a chain of ten restaurants. As soon as he became quite wealthy, criminal groups with ties to the Federal Security Service (FSB)
began demanding money from him and threatening him
because they wanted to take his companies. Fed up with this kind of clientelism and corruption, he joined Boris Nemtsov’s party, Right Cause, a Russian opposition party. In response, the local mafia decided to ruin him completely, so he fled his country and has been living in Hungary for six years – hvg.hu reported.
The harassment continued even abroad, for example, in Austria he was attacked by a hitman and
the Czech Republic wanted to extradite him to Russia.
Therefore, he fled to Hungary through the Czech Republic and Ukraine and said that provided he receives political asylum he would return to Prague and continue his business there.
His wife and his younger son live in the Czech capital who he can meet only once every two months. Furthermore, his older son is a professional dancer, and lately, his baby was born; however, Mr Tubarov could only see him through video calls.
He asked for political asylum many times in Hungary, but authorities refused to grant it to him even though Hungarian courts said that
he is a persecutee of the Putin-regime, so he deserves protection.
But how could a government office overrule the repeated rulings of the courts? According to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, in 2015, the government majority took away the right of the courts to make rulings on their own about the fate of asylum seekers. In the last four years, the judges could rule only on the illegality of the immigration office’s decisions but could do nothing about them. When it happened for the third time, the judge in Pécs became tired of this game and, following the advice of the lawyer of the Helsinki Commission who represented Torubarov, turned to the European Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the Hungarian law.
On July 29, the European Court of Justice rendered its decision, which is applicable not only in Hungary but in all member states of the European Union. No longer can a government office invalidate an asylum decision made by the courts without additional information that would alter that decision. Thus, the office of immigration can no longer override rulings for years on end.
The Helsinki Committee said that the victory of
Tolubarov may give hope for others
who are not given political asylum because of the Hungarian authorities.
As we reported before, in the case of the former PM of Macedonia, Nikola Gruevski, Hungarian authorities acted adversely. Before Gruevski should have started to serve his prison sentence for committing economic crimes, Hungarian diplomats helped him to leave his country, and as a personal friend of PM Viktor Orbán, he received political asylum in Hungary in just a couple of days.
Meanwhile, Hungary supports Macedonia’s EU accession, so it does not regard the Balkan country as one breaking the rule of law in its court decisions.
True, Gruevski was the first who attacked George Soros and talked about his dangerous plan aiming to settle migrants in Europe. He was not successful with these claims in Macedonia, but in Hungary, such campaigns resulted in landslide victories for the government parties in both the national and the European parliamentary elections.