George Soros

Budapest Process Istanbul round ‘battle’ between Szijjártó, Avramopoulos, says state secretary

Erdogan Hungary Turkey

The Istanbul round of the Budapest Process interregional forum on migration witnessed a “battle” between Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó and EU Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, “George Soros’s man”, the state secretary for foreign affairs said on Wednesday.

The foreign minister spoke up for the interests of Europeans, while the commissioner “solely promoted the interests of migrants”, without saying a word in his 10 minute speech about the rights and security of Europeans, Tamás Menczer told MTI.

In his address, Szijjártó said that people passing through safe countries to reach Europe could not be considered as refugees, adding that migration was not a basic human right. He also said that the security of Europeans comes first, Menczer said.

Menczer said

it was apparent that the EU commissioner, “a pro-migration extremist”, was offended by the foreign minister’s remarks and “threatened” countries that rejected cooperation with Brussels in relocating refugees in Europe.

In his address, the foreign minister said it was extremely important that all decisions on migration must remain at the level of national sovereignty, and these decisions must be respected by other countries, Menczer said. Szijjártó also said Hungary firmly rejected the policy that supports migration as a solution to the problems of population decline and a shortage of labour.

Migration is the wrong response to these problems, Szijjártó said, adding that Hungary, however, respected the decisions of other countries and expected to be treated the same way.

Marching towards a dictatorship, says Jobbik deputy leader

jobbik Gyöngyösi

This press release published on Márton Gyöngyösi Facebook-account:

I have contemplated a lot whether or not to write about the state of our public discourse or about where the increasingly aggressive remarks of our politicians or public figures may lead to. One reason for my uncertainty was the fact that this issue had regularly been used by certain political actors for their own agenda; typically with less than enough justification. The other reason was “let the cobbler stick to his last”: it is not necessarily a fortunate thing if politicians publish moral commentaries and try to take the bread out of the mouths of “ the professionals”, i.e., publicists and philosophers.

It’s never a good idea to talk of the devil but I am afraid there is much more than that here: we are no longer facing marginal statements, slips of the tongue or the occasional badly-worded sentence. Instead, it is a process with an unforeseeable end. That’s why we have to talk about it.

On March 15 last year, Viktor Orbán threatened anyone with even just slightly different views on the world with a moral, political and legal retribution.

These words did not come from the mouth of a marginal, minor party leader or an inexperienced political upstart but from that of the Prime Minister. The sowed seeds seem to have sprouted and the members of the political side which used to proudly call itself civic are now a rich source of the seeds of hatred. Their message is that if you are not with us, you are simply a nobody. This was what Fidesz members sang in the evening of April 8, thus sending a message well in advance to anyone who was not a member of their branch. Now it’s part of Fidesz’ folklore in the form of a moderately sophisticated song. Of course, these things are still not enough for some people: the owner of Fidesz Membership Card No. 5, i.e., Zsolt Bayer keeps throwing much worse curses at basically anyone who is not a Fidesz supporter. (An online magazine recently published an article comparing some of his utterances with the radio broadcasts that instigated the massacre of 800 thousand people in Rwanda in 1994. The difference was not big.) I could go on with this list all the way to the latest harangue by the mayor of Érd.

Everybody have their bad days and since public figures are only human, they do make imprudent, bad statements on occasion, too.

Not all genuinely or seemingly bad remarks are motivated by evil intentions and I would rather refrain from assuming the opposite. However, what we see in Hungary in 2019 is much more than some unfortunate slips of the tongue. What we see here is that the governing party and its leaders ignore the half of the country which did not vote for them. Aware of the dominant position arising from being in government, they shamelessly threaten or humiliate those other people, and use every available forum to make them feel ignored.

The glaring examples of this attitude are the recent Soros-blaming communiqués released by the Hungarian Mail Service and the state-owned Volánbusz Coach Service or the condescending style of the State Audit Office, which is headed by Fidesz’ worn-out ex-lawmaker, László Domokos.

And where does all this lead to? The “good” scenario is that Hungary eventually gets used to this vulgar discourse while problem solving is replaced by cursing at each other. This is one way to do it but then Fidesz should not feel offended if the younger generation, growing up in such an environment, throws even more witty swearwords at them. Meanwhile, the country goes down the tubes.

The bad scenario is that some people begin to take these verbal assaults seriously, which we have seen examples of. The deteriorating public discourse has already led to the stabbing of a renowned mayor in Poland. Do we want to wait until all this name-calling and “retribution” leads to physical violence in Hungary, too? I could also mention how certain semi-criminal figures with ties to Fidesz are issuing online threats to the members of Jobbik’s Youth Platform. How far will we go? Will we end up where being involved in politics becomes a hazardous job? Just like in certain South American countries where assassinations are business as usual?

Or will we go even further; to the point where we were in the 1950s?

The bad news is that we cannot see the end of this process. If public figures, politicians elected by popular vote can be threatened, called nobody and ruined without any consequence, what should the average joe expect? Should they just expect to be struck down by the government or a local oligarch? We have seen something like this in Hungarian history: after World War II, Communists gradually took over the country. They began to eliminate multi-party democracy, then they imprisoned or deported opposition politicians, followed by dissenters and finally everyone who didn’t fit into the picture. Eventually, keeping a low profile didn’t help either because just a few malevolent rumours were enough to get you indicted. “Don’t just guard them, hate them!” this was the slogan of the wardens working in the headquarters of the Communist secret police.

Orbán and his friends are now toying with hatred. If you are not with them, they mark you for destruction. This path is a dictatorship’s path.

I hope we can still take a turn and make Hungary a reliable and safe European country again. That’s what Jobbik works for, and that’s what we will cast our ballots for in the European parliamentary elections on May 26.

Orbán cabinet: Links between ‘Soros network’, European Commission obvious

timmermans socialists budapest

The existence of links between the “Soros network” and the European Commission has again become obvious by the EC’s immediate attack against an information campaign by Hungary’s government, state secretary at the prime minister’s office Szabolcs Takács said in Brussels on Tuesday after meeting his European Union counterparts.

The agenda of a meeting of European Union ministers included for the fourth time the procedure against Hungary launched in line with Article 7 of the basic treaty because of deficiencies as regards the rule of law.

Takács said that

Frans Timmermans, first vice-president of the European Commission, brought up the issue of the government campaign during another point of the agenda “in a frenzied manner, shouting”, with total disregard to procedural rules.

“The cat is out of the bag,” Takács added and described Timmermans as the “spitzenkandidat of Brussels bureaucrats and the pro-migration elite.”

This elite wants to turn the European Union into a continent of immigrants and they have found allies for this endeavour in Hungary’s opposition, Takács said. In the interest of victory they are ready to accept “the Hungarian Socialists having formed an alliance with extreme racist and anti-Semitic Jobbik,” he added.

Timmermans is trying to make people believe that he can represent the commission without bias while his statements “were reeking of his dislike for the Hungarian government”, Takács said.

“Timmermans’ performance today clearly demonstrated that he regularly meets [US billionaire] George Soros and NGOs supported by the Soros network … which most obviously proves that what we say is reality,” he said.

Commenting on the accusations by the EC vice president, Takács said he had told the meeting that Timmermans, especially in light of his recent Budapest visit to the opposition Socialists’ congress, was incapable of separating his function in the commission from his political ambitions. As a result, his role in the commission should be suspended, which the Hungarian government has already requested, he added.

Hungarian official discusses EP budget, election, migration with Italian officials

itly eu flag

The Hungarian state secretary for EU affairs on Wednesday met Italian officials to discuss the European Commission’s budget proposals, migration, the upcoming EP elections and Brussels’ “attacks” against Italy and Hungary.

Szabolcs Takács met Luciano Barra Caracciolo, state secretary at the Italian Department for European Policies, Fabrizio Bucci, the EU affairs director of the foreign ministry, and Piero Benassi, the EU advisor of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

The Hungarian and Italian governments agree that the outgoing EU administration “cannot be a negotiating partner in issues impacting the bloc’s future,” Takács said.

Regarding the EU’s budget for the 2021-2027 financial cycle, the governments agree that the EC’s proposal is looking to siphon too much funding from traditional policies, the cohesion funds and the common agricultural policy, Takács said. The “pro-migration Brussels bureaucracy’s proposals” would cut Hungary’s funding by a “disproportionate and unjustified degree,” he said.

The EC “is a member of a pro-migration political community that attacks Hungary and Italy for having a different stance on migration,” he said.

Politicians supported by the “network” of US financier George Soros play a prominent role in this battle, he said. Hungary cannot accept that the EC is represented by such politicians, for instance EC Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Takács said.

Photo: GLOBS Magazine

Orbán state-of-the nation address in Budapest – Here are the surprising announcements!

Orbán PM

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced a seven-point family protection action plan in his state-of-the-nation address in Budapest on Sunday.

Family protection action plan

“This is Hungary’s answer [to challenges[, rather than immigration,” the prime minister said.

Listing the points of the action plan, Orbán said

every woman under 40 years of age will be eligible to a preferential loan when they first get married.

The preferential loan of the family home purchase scheme (CSOK) will be extended; families raising two or more children will now also be able to use it for purchasing resale homes. The government will repay 1 million forints of the mortgage loan of families with two or more children. This measure was first announced in August 2017 for families with three or more children, with the government paying off 1 million forints of families’ mortgages for every third and subsequent child from January 2018. The measures has now been extended to include families raising two children.

Women who have had and raised at least four children will be exempt from personal income tax payment for the rest of their lives.

The government will launch a car purchase subsidy programme for large families. Families raising at least three children will be eligible to a grant of 2.5 million forints (8,000 euros) to buy a new car seating at least seven people.

The government will create 21,000 creche places over three years. Grandparents will also be eligible to a child-care fee and look after young children instead of the parents, the prime minister added.


HUNGARIAN POPULATION DECREASING WHILE THE NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS INCREASING


‘Hungarians have worked hard for achievements’

“Neither the third two-thirds majority, nor the outstanding economic growth were given to us as a present, Hungarians have worked hard for both,” Prime Minister Orbán said.

In his traditional state-of-the-nation address, the prime minister said

politics and the economy are deeply related and the achievements “can never be attributed to blind luck alone”.

Orbán noted that in 2009, towards the end of left-wing rule, “our shared assets, reserves and future possibilities had all been used up”. Hungary needed more than just crisis management, it needed a complete renewal, a new direction, he said.

Today, the number of marriages is increasing, infant mortality has been reduced, employment has grown from 55 percent to 70 percent, unemployment has been reduced to one-third of its earlier level, incomes are growing, and the minimum wage has more than doubled, he said.

Thanks to the joint efforts of the past ten years, Hungarians have faith in their future again, Orbán said.

“For us, victory is not when our party wins but when it is our country that is victorious,” the prime minister said.

Orbán said Hungary is a place where everyone will benefit from being Hungarian, and step by step, with persistent hard work, “we will eliminate poverty”. He said everyone will have work and home, every child will have access to creche, kindergarten, school, school dinners and textbooks, there will be support for young people, and a respectable old age for seniors.

Orbán
Photo: MTI

Orbán calls Brussels ‘citadel of new internationalism’

PM Orbán called Brussels “the citadel of new internationalism” and immigration as “the instrument of this internationalism”.

Giving his traditional state-of-the-nation address on Sunday, Orbán said there are once again forces that want to see open societies and a world without nations, “fabricate” a supranational global government and are still controlled from abroad.

“The target countries for migrants are witnessing the emergence of a Christian-Muslim world with a shrinking rate of Christians.

But we, central Europeans, still have a future of our own,” Orbán said.

OrbánOrbán calls opposition “bunch of pro-immigration politicians”

PM Orbán called the Hungarian opposition “a bunch of pro-immigration politicians who are kept on a respirator by George Soros and the EU bureaucrats”.

Giving his traditional state-of-the-nation address on Sunday, Orbán said “it is a kind of political pornography” that the Socialists and the extreme right have formed a coalition.

“We have to hear that listing MPs of Jewish origin is not anti-Semitism and he who says this wants to become mayor of Budapest instead of sneaking away. We can only say that this is a shame,” Orbán said.

OPPOSITION PARTIES CRITICISE ORBÁN’S STATE-OF-THE-NATION ADDRESS

Speakers at a joint demonstration of the opposition parties criticised Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s state-of-the-nation address and challenged him on the state of democracy in Budapest on Sunday. Read more HERE.

Government won’t receive Dutch parlt delegation probing rule of law in Hungary

The Hungarian government will not receive the Dutch parliamentary delegation visiting Budapest to investigate the state of the rule of law in the country, a foreign ministry official told public media on Tuesday.

Tamás Menczer, state secretary for communications and international representation, said The Netherlands was not a Hungarian oversight body, and Dutch pro-migration politicians had no right to carry out an investigation in Hungary.

“What if a Hungarian group were to look into how the previous Dutch ambassador to Budapest compared the Islamic State to Hungary just because we say no to illegal migration?” he said.

 

He noted that

MEP Judith Sargentini and European Union vice commissioner Frans Timmermans were also Dutch, and billionaire “George Soros‘s people”.

As we wrote on January, organisations around the world linked to billionaire George Soros “all operate according to the same standards of aggression, violent protests and destabilisation”, Fidesz party director Gábor Kubatov said.


THE MINDS BEHIND FIDESZ’S HATE CAMPAIGN: HOW SOROS BECAME ENEMY NO. 1

American political consultant George Birnhaum gave an extensive interview to a Swiss magazine about how he and Arthur Finkelstein created the perfect political propaganda, and basically made a global enemy of Hungarian-born U.S. business mogul György Soros for Fidesz’s campaign. Read details here.

Foreign minister: Channelised migration to Europe must be prevented

foreign minister in Bucharest

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, on the sidelines of an informal meeting of European foreign ministers on Thursday, said the European Socialists planned channelised migration to Europe. Szijjártó labelled this as “dangerous” and something to be prevented by voters in the European parliamentary elections.

Szijjártó reacted to comments on Wednesday by commission vice-president Frans Timmermans, the left-wing’s EC presidential candidate, who commented on a European Commission policy paper he co-authored that addresses the issue of migration.

“Migration should be stopped rather than organised,” Szijjártó told Hungarian journalists in Bucharest.

Referring to billionaire George Soros, he said: “It is clear that Frans Timmermans and the European Socialists are following the orders of the Soros network and want to further intensify migration trends in the direction of Europe.”

The strengthening of migration trends can be prevented only if anti-migration forces gain a majority in the EP elections, he said.

foreign minister in Bucharest
Photo: MTI

“This is a big debate taking place in the council of foreign ministers, too, because several governments in Europe have taken a pro-migration stand,” Szijjártó said.

“At the same time, I believe that voters will be able to decide in the EP elections which direction Europe should follow on this matter,” he added.

Szijjártó said the foreign ministers reviewed challenges affecting Europe such as “frozen conflicts” to the east and “crisis areas” to the south and south-east.

“Unfortunately, no progress has been made regarding the crises that surround us to the south, neither in the Syrian nor the Libyan crises,” the minister said. “On top of that, taking together the migrants from sub-Saharan Africa arriving in north Africa and those in the Middle East, some 30-35 million people live in the direct vicinity of Europe who might decide at any point, due to their living conditions, to set off for Europe,” he added.

In light of the above, Timmermans’ Wednesday remarks are especially alarming, he added.

“We are clearly talking about Soros’s man, otherwise he would not have received Soros four times and the head of George Soros-funded organisations numerous times,” Szijjártó said.

“He has made his plan clear: he wants to develop a dedicated channel, a new opportunity to bring migrants to Europe if pro-migration forces retain their majority in the EP and the European Commission,” he added. “This is very dangerous for Europe; the security risks of migration trends have been clear in recent years,” he added.

Featured image: MTI

These are the most corrupt countries in the World, Hungary got terrible place in the ranking – TI

corrupt countries transparency hungary

The 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released today by Transparency International reveals that the continued failure of most countries to significantly control corruption is contributing to a crisis of democracy around the world.

“With many democratic institutions under threat across the globe – often by leaders with authoritarian or populist tendencies – we need to do more to strengthen checks and balances and protect citizens’ rights,” said Patricia Moreira, Managing Director of Transparency International. “Corruption chips away at democracy to produce a vicious cycle, where corruption undermines democratic institutions and, in turn, weak institutions are less able to control corruption.”

The 2018 CPI draws on 13 surveys and expert assessments to measure public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories, giving each a score from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

CPI HIGHLIGHTS

More than two-thirds of countries score below 50, with an average score of only 43. Since 2012, only 20 countries have significantly improved their scores, including Estonia and Côte D’Ivoire, and 16 have significantly declined, including, Australia, Chile and Malta.

Denmark and New Zealand top the Index with 88 and 87 points, respectively.

Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria are at the bottom of the index, with 10, 13 and 13 points, respectively. The highest scoring region is Western Europe and the European Union, with an average score of 66, while the lowest scoring regions are Sub-Saharan Africa (average score 32) and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (average score 35).

CORRUPTION AND THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY

Cross analysis with global democracy data reveals a link between corruption and the health of democracies. Full democracies score an average of 75 on the CPI; flawed democracies score an average of 49; hybrid regimes – which show elements of autocratic tendencies – score 35; autocratic regimes perform worst, with an average score of just 30 on the CPI.

Exemplifying this trend, the CPI scores for Hungary and Turkey decreased by eight and nine points respectively over the last five years. At the same time, Turkey was downgraded from ‘partly free’ to ‘not free’, while Hungary registered its lowest score for political rights since the fall of communism in 1989. These ratings reflect the deterioration of rule of law and democratic institutions, as well as a rapidly shrinking space for civil society and independent media, in those countries.

CORRUPTION IN EU

As the report says, Hungary and Malta have seen the sharpest decline in their respective CPI scores in recent years, allowing corruption to worsen. While Romania and Bulgaria had been making some progress on the CPI in recent years, both witness a decline by a single point in a year that has seen a serious corruption scandal in Bulgaria, and mass anti-corruption protests in Romania.  Poland – currently under investigation by the EU over systematic violations of the rule of law – has stagnated.

Hungary decreased by nine points over the last seven years, moving from 55 in 2012 to 46 in 2018. This significant change reflects a deterioration of democracy, as well as a rapidly shrinking space for civil society and independent media.

Exemplifying this change, both the Open Society Foundation and Central European University, founded by philanthropist George Soros, were recently forced out of the country.

In the last few years, Hungary passed legislation that imposed restrictions on “foreign funded NGOs” and introduced additional taxation for NGOs that “support immigration”, while making this support a criminal offence. These are all serious infringements of basic civil rights.

In addition, Hungary also passed a law that establishes a new system of administrative courts and expands the power of the minister of justice to appoint judges. These courts will have jurisdiction over matters of corruption, elections and protests.

At the same time, Hungary faces allegations of a misuse of EU funds, which Hungarian police have yet to investigate. In response to these challenges, our chapter, Transparency International Hungary is working to provide expert support and research, serve as a resource to investigative journalists and empower citizens to monitor public expenditures.

More generally, countries with high levels of corruption can be dangerous places for political opponents. Practically all of the countries where political killings are ordered or condoned by the government are rated as highly corrupt on the CPI.

COUNTRIES TO WATCH

With a score of 71, the United States lost four points since last year, dropping out of the top 20 countries on the CPI for the first time since 2011. The low score comes at a time when the US is experiencing threats to its system of checks and balances as well as an erosion of ethical norms at the highest levels of power.

Brazil dropped two points since last year to 35, also earning its lowest CPI score in seven years. Alongside promises to end corruption, the country’s new president has made it clear that he will rule with a strong hand, threatening many of the democratic milestones achieved by the country.

“Our research makes a clear link between having a healthy democracy and successfully fighting public sector corruption,” said Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chair of Transparency International. “Corruption is much more likely to flourish where democratic foundations are weak and, as we have seen in many countries, where undemocratic and populist politicians can use it to their advantage.”

To make real progress against corruption and strengthen democracy around the world, Transparency International calls on all governments to:

strengthen the institutions responsible for maintaining checks and balances over political power, and ensure their ability to operate without intimidation;
close the implementation gap between anti-corruption legislation, practice and enforcement;
support civil society organisations which enhance political engagement and public oversight over government spending, particularly at the local level;
support a free and independent media, and ensure the safety of journalists and their ability to work without intimidation or harassment.

View report here: https://www.transparency.org/cpi2018

Fidesz calls on ‘pro-migration MEPs’ countries to take in Ahmed H.’

eu flag hungary

Since pro-migration MEPs have been campaigning on behalf of Ahmed H., who has been convicted under Hungarian terrorism laws for inciting a riot on the Hungary-Serbia border in 2015, “they should take in” the Syrian, Fidesz’s communications director said on Monday.

Balázs Hidvéghi told a news conference in Budapest on Monday that he had written a letter to two dozen MEPs who had demanded the release of Ahmed H. a few months ago.

He insisted these MEPs had defended “terrorist” Ahmed H., and they had even appeared in a campaign photograph for one of the organisations linked to billionaire George Soros.

“If they care so much about his freedom, they should lobby their government to welcome Ahmed H. into their country,” he said.

He said the people in Brussels who supported Ahmed H. generally occupied Liberal, Socialist, Green and Communist EP seats and had campaigned for “mass migration”. They were also “on Soros’s list of trusted allies” in the European Parliament, he insisted.

Hidvéghi said he had written to Dutch Green MEP Judith Sargentini among other pro-migration politicians. “[She] is Soros’s main ally … and continually attacks Hungary for its refusal to become an immigrant country.”

He said his letter would also be received by German Alliance ’90/The Greens MEP Ska Keller, “known for wanting to build migrant villages in eastern Europe”, and Anna Gomes, a Portuguese MEP who blames Hungary for the failure of the EU migrant quota system.

Also Malin Bjork, a Swedish Left Party and the European United Left-Nordic Green MEP, will receive his letter because she maintains that it would “not only be possible but also very welcome” were the country to receive a few thousand migrants, he said. She is also among those who would withdraw funds from EU member states that refuse to accommodate migrants, the Fidesz politician said.

The Syrian migrant spent 40 months in prison for inciting a riot in 2015 on the Hungary-Serbia border.

He was released from prison on Jan. 19 after serving two-thirds of his term, taking into account time spent in pre-trial detention. Under the same ruling, he is to be expelled from the country upon his release. A government spokesman said on Jan. 19 that Ahmed H. will remain in detention until Hungary can reach an agreement with Cyprus, his former place of residence, concerning his return.

Orbán: EP debate on Hungary is a ‘Soros campaign event’

Orbán Hungary

The European Parliament’s debate on the rule of law in Hungary will be a “George Soros-type seance, an election rally, a campaign event”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public Kossuth Radio on Friday.

Orbán said he had always fought for “the Hungarian national interest” but he would not aid and abet next week’s “pro-migration campaign event” in Brussels.

The European left wing’s Spitzenkandidat, Frans Timmermans, who is currently the first Vice-President of the European Commission, is “Soros’s man”, he said, referring to the American-Hungarian billionaire.

“Soros is now open about wanting to take over European institutions,” the prime minister insisted.

The progress of the infringement procedures against Hungary, which the commission decided to step up on Thursday, is also a sign of Soros’s big influence “and that he wants to increase it even further”, Orbán said. This attempt should be thwarted at May’s EP election, “where we want pro-migration MEPs to be left in minority”, he said.

Regarding the EP’s decision to triple the funding of “Soros’s NGOs”, Orbán said that this was “a decision executing point six of the Soros-plan”. The initiative to couple funding with the rule of law in member states was a “primitive proposal” contrary to EU rules, he said. Such a ruling would need the votes of all member states, and he would never vote for it. “It will not become reality,” the prime minister said.

Orbán said his ruling Fidesz party had always opposed such “anti-Hungary” decisions, while the Hungarian opposition had supported them.

Regarding the latest “National Consultation” survey sent to Hungarian households in the autumn, Orbán said that some 1.38 million people had completed them, showing the readiness of Hungarians to “take action in great numbers” when truly important issues were raised. Orbán said he had asked the Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyás, to prepare a proposal addressing the contemporary challenges child protection services face and the government’s potential responses.

Regarding family policy, Orbán called it a “historic decision” that Hungarians wanted to see demographic problems solved with strategic family policy rather than through immigration. Katalin Novák, the state secretary for youth and family affairs, laid out a “long and very expensive” action plan to protect families, he said. This puts the protection of young families first, he said.

It would be “worthwhile” enshrining some elements of family policy in the constitution, Orbán said in response to a question, adding that he would “tread carefully here”.

On the topic of the economy, Orbán said Hungary “is among the world’s top ten countries from the point of view of investments”. The goal, he said, was to raise Hungary’s level of economic growth by at least 2 percent above the European average each year.

In connection with the reduction of public debt, he said Hungary’s economy was sufficiently strong for the public debt level to be reduced to below 50 percent from the current 71 percent in a couple of years, but this would mean less money being spent on economic development. A balance must be struck between these two aims, he added.

Referring to the death of Andrew G Vajna, the government commissioner responsible for the development of the national film industry, Orbán said Vajna had loved his country and it spoke volumes that he had created the most heart-rending film about the 1956 revolution, Freedom.

“He was a great man and his passing is a serious loss.”

Featured image: MTI

European Commission launches infringement procedures against Hungary

european commission

The European Commission on Thursday launched infringement procedures against Hungary over plans to make travel by rail accessible to people with disabilities and over excise tax rates on cigarettes.

The EC sent Hungarian authorities a “letter of formal notice”, the first step in an infringement procedure, for failing to submit national implementation plans on compliance with regulations on accessibility to rail travel for people with disabilities and on the “operation and traffic management” subsystem of the rail system. The respective deadlines for submitting the plans were January 1, 2017 and July 1, 2017.

The EC also sent Hungary a letter of formal notice for failing to reach the minimum European Union threshold for excise tax duty on cigarettes.

The excise tax on cigarettes in member states must be at least 60 percent of the weighted average retail in the territory.

Hungary has two months to act on the matters or the EC may send authorities a “reasoned opinion”, the second and penultimate step in an infringement procedure.

The EC also decided on Thursday to send Hungary a complementary letter of formal notice for an electronic oversight system intended to prevent tax fraud among road haulage companies.

The EC reiterated that the system requiring road haulage companies to provide detailed information for VAT purposes “infringes on VAT rules as it primarily affects cross-border EU transactions and introduces administrative formalities connected with the crossing of borders”, as it said in its initial letter of formal notice sent in October 2017. But it added that legislation on the system “breaches the principles of neutrality and proportionality, as well as the freedom to conduct a business guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU”.

Moreover, the European Commission has entered its infringement procedure against Hungary concerning Hungary’s “Stop Soros” laws in the next phase, the body announced on Thursday.

The commission said they sent the Hungarian government a reasoned opinion, opening the second phase in the procedure.

The procedure allows Hungary two months to harmonise the criticised legislation with European law, or else the commission could file a case with the Court of Justice of the European Union.

“The Hungarian legislation curtails asylum applicants’ right to communicate with and be assisted by relevant national, international and non-governmental organisations by criminalising support to asylum applications. This is in violation of the Asylum Procedures Directive…and the Reception Conditions Directive….” the EC said in the “reasoned opinion”.

Hungarian lawmakers approved the package, dubbed “Stop Soros”, referring to a plan for managing the migrant crisis earlier outlined by US billionaire George Soros, in June 2018.

The package defines support for illegal immigration in the Criminal Code as offering to initiate an application for asylum to anybody who has arrived from, or passed through on the way to Hungary, any country in which that person was not persecuted.

The first offense is treated as a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment up to 90 days; however, repeat offenses and the support of such illegal activity by material means may result in imprisonment for a period of up to one year.

The package also amended the act on asylum rights to prohibit the approval of any application for asylum by a person who has travelled through a country in which they were not persecuted or at risk of serious harm and could have applied there for asylum.

The EC acknowledged on Thursday that EU law provides for the possibility to introduce non-admissibility grounds under the “safe third country” and the “first country of asylum” concepts, but said the Hungarian rules “curtail the right to asylum in a way which is incompatible with the Asylum Qualifications Directive…and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights”.

The EC added that provisions in the legislation which prohibit anyone subject to a criminal procedure under the laws from approaching the transit zones at Hungary’s borders “unduly restricts the exercise of free movement rights of EU citizens”.

The infringement procedure was launched in July 2018.

A justice ministry official reacted by saying that in stepping up the procedure, “the Brussels bureaucrats are again looking out for the interests of Soros.” State secretary Pál Volner told MTI that EU leaders in Brussels were still preoccupied with “bringing more and more migrants into Europe” instead of working on protecting the continent’s external borders. “This is why the Stop Soros law … criminalising the organisation and financing of migration is and obstacle in their way,” Volner said. He said the government would not repeal the law, as it reflected the will of the Hungarian people.

EU wants to punish countries that refuse to accept migrants, says Fidesz MEP Deutsch

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Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch said on Sunday that the European Union was “threatening and blackmailing” anti-migration countries and wanted to punish EU member states that refused to take in migrants.

Speaking at a press conference in Budapest, Deutsch said the EP decision on Thursday to set up a mechanism tying EU funding to observance of the rule of law in member states made clear that

“Brussels wants to punish countries that have not accepted migrants”.

“This is an outrageous and unacceptable political action disguised as an annual report on EU fundamental rights,” he said.

Deutsch said it was “absurd” that the report focused on the rights of migrants and immigrants while barely addressing the rights of EU citizens. The report, for instance, failed to identify how individual and collective minority rights are handled in the EU, he added.

He said it was clear from the report which direction “pro-migration policymakers in Brussels” sought to take in respect of “the mass influx of illegal migrants and immigration into Europe”. It expects all EU member states to accept immigration as a fundamental human right, he said.

Almost a third of EU member states have refused to adopt the United Nations Global Compact for Migration, he said, adding that the EU nevertheless expected its members to aid issuance of migrant visas, to set up legal migration routes and to support organisations that assist migration. He said the latter were backed by billionaire George Soros.

The Fidesz MEP said the EP report stated that only countries that host migrants could be considered democratic and abiding by the rule of law, while the opposite was true of countries that did not want to accommodate migrants. “This is simply an absurd claim,” he said, adding that the statement was tantamount to blackmail.

He said

the Hungarian people had made their view of migration clear on several occasions. “They do not want to live in a country of immigrants.”

Asked whether Prime Minister Viktor Orbán would attend the EP hearing initiated by Socialist MEP István Ujhelyi and Párbeszéd MEP Benedek Jávor, Deutsch said Orbán would decide whether the debate required his personal participation in it. Deutsch added that for his part as an MEP, he would attend and give his opinion.

Fidesz: ‘Soros organisations all operate along same standards’

OSF George Soros

Organisations around the world linked to billionaire George Soros “all operate according to the same standards of aggression, violent protests and destabilisation”, Fidesz party director Gábor Kubatov said in an interview to business weekly Figyelő.

In contrast, Fidesz and the government is patient and sober-minded, he said. “There wasn’t a single member of Fidesz who gave in to [opposition] provocations,” Kubatov said, adding that “we are the only calm, level-headed force”.

Kubatov said last month the opposition “launched its European parliamentary and municipal election campaigns on a sham pretext”.

“It’s about joining forces and forming a joint election list,” he said.

“The opposition is in Soros’s pocket,” Kubatov said. “He’s the one pulling the strings.”

Referring to a possible joint opposition list for the EP elections, Kubatov said: “I think there’ll be a Soros list”.

He said the opposition parties were now jockeying for position in a potential joint campaign.

“Nothing other than gaining power and money matters to them,” he insisted, adding that the opposition parties were filled with people who used politics to feather their beds.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/OpenSocietyFoundation

Foreign minister urges continued pushback against migration pressure

Hungary Bulgaria

Contrary to the claims of United Nations and European Union officials, migration pressure on Europe has increased in the recent period, and the continent must continue to stand firm in keeping the Western Balkan migration route closed, the foreign minister said on Thursday.

“UN and EU officials in Brussels and New York want to put us to sleep and give the impression that the migration crisis is over,” Péter Szijjártó told MTI by phone from Sofia.

Szijjártó argued that Turkey apprehended 50 percent more illegal migrants last year than in 2017.

Meanwhile, Spain stopped 57,000 illegal entrants, double the number it registered the previous year, he said, adding that Cyprus had seen a similar rise in the number of illegal migrants. The number of people attempting to breach the Greek-Turkish land border is also rising, the minister added.

Moreover, the European Parliament’s fresh decision to increase funding for “Soros groups” once again makes it clear that “[US billionaire] George Soros is practically dictating Brussels’ migration policy,” ruling Fidesz’s communications chief said on Thursday.

Balázs Hidvéghi reacted to a resolution passed by the European Parliament on tripling funding in the 2021-2027 financial period for NGOs dedicated to preserving democratic values. Under the resolution, eligible civil groups would get 1.8 billion euros in support instead of the originally planned 642 million euros.

Hidvéghi insisted that Brussels wanted to increase funding for “Soros organisations” so that they could “bring even more migrants to Europe”.

He said the vote was “yet more evidence that the EP’s pro-migration majority is following the Soros plan step by step”.

He added that Brussels was also preparing to reduce funding for “member states that go against Brussels’s migration policy” so that the money they withhold from those countries can be distributed among “the pro-migration Soros groups”.

Featured image: MTI

Fidesz: ‘Soros’s people reveal themselves’ in EP

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Billionaire George Soros’s “people have again revealed themselves” in the European parliament, ruling Fidesz group spokesman János Halász said on Wednesday.

The commissioner for migration and a “pro-migration chorus” of MEPs were once again “preaching” about the settlement of migrants in Tuesday’s EP session, Halász told a press conference.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, the commissioner in charge of the European Commission‘s migration policy, repeated that a sustainable and predictable mechanism for solidarity was needed in order to organise the settlement of migrants, Halász noted. This suggests that the EC is once again pushing for migrant quotas, he added.

Péter Niedermüller, an MEP of Hungary’s opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) party headed by Ferenc Gyurcsány, argued that EU member states should increase their financial contributions with a view to managing migration, Halász said.

“It has again become completely clear that the EC and the pro-migration majority in the EP are acting in line with the ‘Soros plan’,” he said.

“It is no accident that Soros recently met EC leaders at least 20 times,” he went on. “He is the puppet master of the EC, the EP and the Hungarian opposition parties,” the Fidesz politician added.

“If it was up to them, they would turn Europe into a continent of migrants, and this is what’s at stake in the European parliamentary elections,” he added.

Hungarian opposition complain over use of ‘Stop Soros’ campaign to influence election

soros plan hungary

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) will file a criminal complaint for alleged disturbance of the order of elections based on a recent press report which the party claims showed that the government’s “Stop Soros” campaign used public monies to strengthen ruling Fidesz and mislead voters at last year’s general election.

American political consultant George Birnhaum gave an extensive interview to a Swiss magazine about how he and Arthur Finkelstein created the perfect political propaganda, and basically made a global enemy of Hungarian-born U.S. business mogul György Soros for Fidesz’s campaign, read more HERE.

Democratic Coalition

At a press conference on Tuesday, DK deputy group leader Gergely Arató cited a recent interview with US political consultant George Birnbaum, who was a business partner of Fidesz’s late campaign chief Arthur Finkelstein. According to Arató, Birnbaum’s statements published in Switzerland revealed that

the Hungarian government and Fidesz developed a “deceptive and brain-washing propaganda against [US billionaire George] Soros serving their campaign purposes”.

Fidesz “committed a series of crimes by using public monies to distribute accusations against Soros in order to influence the elections”, Arato said. Birnbaum’s “revealing statements” confirmed reports by election observers of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) who said there was serious abuse of power at the election, Arató added.

Jobbik

Conservative opposition Jobbik lawmaker György Szilágyi said later on Tuesday that Birnbaum’s remarks translated to a “guilty plea”. He added that

ever since 2008, in all Fidesz campaigns the party intentionally placed emphasis on creating a fake enemy and turning people against each other.

No government could stay in power in a civilised country after it is revealed that it had built several campaigns on lies, using public monies, he said.

Photo: facebook.com/MagyarországKormánya

The minds behind Fidesz’s hate campaign: how Soros became enemy No. 1

residency bond

American political consultant George Birnhaum gave an extensive interview to a Swiss magazine about how he and Arthur Finkelstein created the perfect political propaganda, and basically made a global enemy of Hungarian-born U.S. business mogul György Soros for Fidesz’s campaign.

Fidesz has been using Soros for their political campaign for years. Now we know how it all started, who came up with the plan and how they executed it perfectly, influencing millions of voters in Hungary.

Everybody who visited Hungary in the last two years saw at least one “Stop Soros!” billboard somewhere next to the roads. The political propaganda created by Hungarian right-wing party Fidesz has made a major impact on society ever since it started in 2013 and reached its peak in 2017, 24.hu writes.

soros campaign hungary

Fidesz was (and still is) sending the message that the Hungarian-born businessman György Soros wants to “attack our country”, and has some sort of “evil plan” against us. Political consultant George Birnhaum finally reveals how the whole idea behind this campaign came about.

The Finkelstein method

American political consultant Arthur Finkelstein believed that, when it comes to an election, it is best to pit the voters against each other with the help of fear.

A negative campaign, when one does not promote its own ideas but constantly attacks one’s opponent, can be extremely powerful. Finkelstein thought that the fate of an election is decided way before the actual election, and voters usually know way ahead who they are going to vote for. Thus, the aim is not to convince the voters to change their minds but to demotivate them, convince them not to vote at all.

The task is simple: pick someone you can constantly attack, try to project everything onto this person that the voters hate and think it is bad so that, ultimately, the voters lose their trust.

The concept of “the foreign capital” has also become the symbol of fear and disappointment in Hungary. Thus, Soros was the perfect target to make the enemy out of: he was born in Hungary but lives in the U.S., and he is also an extremely wealthy businessman (= dangerous foreign capital).

stop soros law

The campaign against Soros started in 2013 when the pro-government media started to spread the idea that Soros wanted to attack Hungary. The global migration crisis of 2015 really came in handy for Fidesz and their propaganda. This was the time when Soros said that, in the future, the EU might expect as many as one million migrants per year. This statement later became the well-known “Soros plan”. Fidesz communicated that Soros, in fact, wants to swamp Hungary with migrants. The rest is history: first, non-governmental organisations were labelled as “paid Soros soldiers”, then CEU was basically chased away from the country.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/fidesz-anti-government-protesters-on-soross-payroll/” type=”big” color=”green” newwindow=”yes”] Fidesz: anti-government protesters on Soros’s payroll[/button]

The whole thing was never real, only part of a brilliantly designed plan that had only one goal: to help Fidesz win the election.

Soros had no chance to reject any of the claims or to protect himself because the more he would have wanted to clear his name, the more associated he would have become with all of this. Not to mention that he would also have been attacked for being engaged in politics in the first place, given that he is a businessman and not a politician.

Officially, Fidesz never admitted that they were helped by the American political advisors. They claimed that they never paid for Finkelstein’s and Birnhaum’s services, they were just “talking”.

The model the Hungarian campaign was based on became so popular that it was exported to other countries as well, including Columbia, Israel, Kenya and Australia. Even U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned Soros’s name and claimed that he “paid migrants to go towards America”.

Featured image: Facebook.com/MagyarországKormánya

Europe ‘must protect borders’, says Fidesz MEP Kinga Gál

kinga gál

The European Union “must protect its borders at sea and on land as expected by its voters,” Kinga Gál, MEP of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz, said on Tuesday.

The EU should “prevent thousands of migrants from risking their lives at the Mediterranean Sea; it should make it clear that they cannot enter the continent illegally and it must eliminate the human smuggling rings,” Fidesz MEP Gál insisted.

Gál responded to remarks by EU Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, who said that the number of illegal immigrants had plummeted in Europe and there was no migration crisis on the continent. He insisted that the EU was a community based on solidarity and humanitarian values, and called for sustainable and predictable mechanisms towards refugees so that those values are preserved.

Péter Niedermüller, an MEP of the leftist Democratic Coalition, called for temporary measures to distribute migrants rescued at sea among volunteering member states, before the new European Parliament is formed in July. He said that “there is no chance to change the Dublin Regulation because some EU members would not consent out of political selfishness, fear or hate mongering”.

Meanwhile, Lőrinc Nacsa, the parliamentary spokesman of Hungary’s junior governing Christian Democrats (KDNP) accused

George Soros and leading EU politicians “paid” by the US billionaire of being behind Brussels’ migration policy and related proposals.

Photo: erdely.ma