George Soros

Orbán: Brussels ‘going full steam ahead’ with migration schemes – Interview

Orbán

Brussels is “going full steam ahead” with its migration schemes, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his regular Friday interview to public radio.

Orbán said pro-immigration forces currently in power in Brussels want to push everything through before the May European parliamentary elections, since there would be a majority that rejects pro-immigration policies after the vote.

The European Commission has just published its programme on what to implement urgently, which, he said, was antithetical to all that Hungarians stand for.

“It is about establishing a permanent migrant settlement programme, opening legal migration routes and creating a pilot migration programme with African countries and introducing a humanitarian visa.” He went on to say that it also involved getting NGOs to assess such visas and stripping European Union member states of their border protection responsibilities.

Orbán said, for this reason, there would be a “tough few days” during the upcoming EU summit in Brussels.

The prime minister insisted that at the forefront of the European Parliament’s “pro-migration side” were the Liberals — “the strongest group in terms of its financial and media support” — which, he said, tended “to mess with Hungary”.

Orbán said it was a “significant achievement in recent years” that “a formerly clandestine Soros network has been revealed”, a network which “has not been authorised by anyone to impact the lives of people.”

Concerning the United States, Orbán said that

President Donald Trump’s forces and those of Soros “are fighting a battle over whether to return to the grounds of American national interests or build a globalist government to which nation states would be subordinated”.

He said that Hungary’s opposition also promoted the same idea of global government, but the opposition’s weakness, he added, rendered such endeavours insignificant. The prime minister also insisted that such networks operated as “outsourced secret services” and sought to delegate their agents to “important positions”.

Referring to the Hungarian economy, which he said was performing well, he said: “where there’s money, there are speculators; where there’s flesh, there are flies”. Orbán pledged to “shoo off such speculators as George Soros”.

Referring to the United Nations’ migration pact, Orbán said that “Soros’s international network” sought to use the UN to get migration “accepted as a good thing” so that “Soros and his kind can say that they have international authorisation”.

Meanwhile, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit earlier in the week, Orbán said Hungary “has to gather friends rather than enemies”.

The structure of the Turkish state is an internal affair, Orbán said. He has “always kept Hungary away from the bad western European attitude” of lecturing other states on how to behave, he said. This “trend” was introduced by the US, which in the meantime has also realised that “this does not lead anywhere”, he said.

Turkish policies have a direct bearing on Hungary’s security, Orbán said, noting that Turkey hosts 4 million migrants.

“If the Turks let them, a large number of these people would appear at the Hungarian-Serbian border within days.”

A strong political system and a strong leader in Turkey is in Hungary’s “basic interest”, he said.

Regarding the re-election bid of István Tarlós, Budapest’s mayor running for a third term on a Fidesz ticket, Orbán said that he had asked Tarlós to run again for mayor with the authorisation of the Fidesz-led district mayors. Tarlós had set preconditions for accepting the nomination and secured substantial rights for the city, Orbán said.

On the topic of extra subsidies for people who care for permanently sick family members, the prime minister said:

“We continue to reach out to demographic groups in difficult situations.”

Photo: MTI

Ruling party spokesman: Anti-migration content censored with Soros’s money

censored swearing

A ruling party spokesman has slammed Facebook “for targeting anti-migration content and thereby openly assuming a political role”.

“It is not the first time that Facebook has played an openly political role and it’s probably not the last, either,” István Hollik, the Fidesz-Christian Democrat group spokesman, told a news conference.

“The company that has the power to obliterate, moderate and censor content is supported by [billionaire] George Soros”.

Gábor G Fodor, the editor-in-chief of news portal 888.hu, said the Facebook page of his colleague had been blocked by the company.

The journalist in question had posted a picture of Emmanuel Macron, the French head of state, in the company of “half-naked black men” and a picture of Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, holding his grandchild.

“You choose” was the caption.

The editor said the image, posted without commentary, had been removed by Facebook and the journalist had been blocked from the site for a week. Further, his page was removed.

“It’s frightening and disappointing, and as regards the future, it’s thought-provoking,” he added.

G. Fodor called on the right-wing press to make their voices heard and not to allow themselves to be intimidated.

István Hollik said that as the European Parliament elections approach, “this type of censorship and migration campaign” will intensify in the coming months.

Fidesz turns to prosecutor over Migration Aid becoming political party

Daily News Hungary

Ruling Fidesz is turning to the prosecutor’s office over civil group Migration Aid’s move to become a political party, a Fidesz lawmaker said on Friday.

From now on, Fidesz’s anti-migration cabinet will be monitoring “the domestic flow of Soros monies”, Szilárd Németh, the head of the cabinet, told a press conference.

Németh insisted that

US billionaire George Soros‘s donations to Hungarian NGOs “always end up with organisations supporting migration”.

This was why, he said, Fidesz needed to keep track of the flow of his donations.

He said Migration Aid, which he called a “pseudo-NGO”, had decided to transition into a political party to avoid having to pay the newly-introduced 25 percent migration levy imposed on organisations that support migration.

The lawmaker noted that Migration Aid’s situation has also been discussed by parliament’s justice committee and the body has asked the government to look into the matter.

Nemeth said the migration levy was a way for pro-migration organisations to pay their share of the public burden.

“Those who receive money for the purpose of causing difficulties in the life of a country should pay taxes on that money,” he argued.

He said the migration levy served to protect Hungary and Europe the same way Hungary’s border fence, tightened asylum laws and the “Stop Soros” package of laws and its related constitutional amendment did.

Orbán cabinet: Gap between western elite, public growing

eu flag

Government spokesman Zoltán Kovács, in an interview to the Monday edition of daily Magyar Idők, identified a “significantly growing gap” between the views of Europe’s western elite and the general public about Hungary’s policies concerning the challenges faced by the continent.

While the opinion of left-liberal politicians and groups who see themselves as Europe’s leading elite has not changed over the past eight years, voters who have had to face mass migration and deteriorating public safety have realised the need for a change in the continent’s policies, Kovács told the paper.

“The reflection of this change of opinion has been most apparent in Austria, Germany and Italy,” he said.

Kovacs said Hungary had an “overall negative” image in Europe’s mainstream media, adding, however, that with the campaign for the European parliamentary elections getting under way, this has started to change.

There have been reports in the western press that have shown appreciation for Hungary’s consistent policies on the issue of migration and Europe’s future, Kovács said. “There are signs that European voters are waking up,” he added.

“We can’t expect much understanding from the mainstream media,” the government spokesman said, adding that

social media was the most effective platform for discussing Hungary’s positions.

Kovács said the “asymmetrical media coverage” of the Sargentini report approved by the European Parliament last month and the “way it was handled without criticism” demonstrated the “double standards” he said have been applied towards coverage of Hungary for the past eight years. “The attacks we’ve seen over the past eight years are a good demonstration of how right, centre-right or Christian Democrat parties are never given equal opportunities on the international stage to leftist and liberal parties,” he said.

“Earlier, before 2015, the Hungarian government was being taken to task for its concept of democracy and since then it has been about migration, because the government has a different opinion on the future of Europe than liberals,” he said.

Concerning Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and French President Emmanuel Macron’s “battle” in the EP election campaign, Kovács said the European political arena pitted pro-migration politicians against those who oppose migration.

Kovács said that, “given his tanking popularity in France”, Macron was not focusing on campaigning to French voters, but was rather concerned with “presenting a globalist, trans-European approach”.

“If we look at the efforts Paris is taking to strengthen French culture and language in the EU and its former colonies, then what we see is pure nationalism,” he said.

“Macron’s remark that he won’t let nationalists defend their national sovereignty gives away his real motives,”

Kovács added. “Our mentality, on the other hand, is obvious. It is based on national sovereignty and the mentality that forms the foundation of the EU, which says that Europe is an alliance of nations, with the emphasis being on nations and on the form of cooperation that is good for everyone.”

On another topic, Kovács said the Hungarian government did not just have to deal with the opposition media “but also opposition NGOs, who do damage with their false messaging”. He said NGOs had no democratic legitimacy or voter support but still had a “serious influence on politics through their mass communication channels”.

“This asymmetry is strengthened by the fact that these organisations have but a few dozen to a few hundred members,” Kovács said. Taxpayer donations, he said, were only enough to cover a fraction of their expenses, “while they receive most of their funding from foundations linked to [US financier] George Soros, international human rights organisations or corporations”.

Soros foundation appeals to Strasbourg court over “Stop Soros” laws

OSF George Soros

The Open Society Foundations is turning to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (ECtHR) to appeal against Hungary’s “Stop Soros” laws, the organisation said on Monday.

The OSF, founded by billionaire George Soros, said on its website that it wants the court “to act against Hungary over its so-called Stop Soros laws, which criminalize and tax the work of independent civil society groups, under the pretext of controlling migration.”

The June legislation, it said, contradicts the articles of the European Convention of Human Rights on freedom of expression and freedom of association.

The statement said that under the new law, anyone who helps asylum seekers who have entered Hungary, including people who provide legal advice, are regarded as criminals. Further, organisations must pay a 25 percent special tax if they engage in activities that support migration.

Daniela Ikawa, the OSF’s lead lawyer on the case, said: “These measures expose a broad range of legitimate activities to the risk of criminal prosecution, including preparing and distributing information and providing legal advice on migrants’ rights, activities protected under European and international law.”

At the same time, the OSF is also turning to Hungary’s Constitutional Court with the complaint that some parts of the law conflict with rights guaranteed by the country’s fundamental law.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/OpenSocietyFoundation

Hungarian ruling parties to submit draft resolution condemning Sargentini report to parliament

fidesz party

Hungary’s ruling parties will next week submit a draft resolution to parliament declaring the Sargentini report a “deceitful” document which the European Parliament “had to cheat to approve” and that Hungary will not allow itself to be stripped of its right to protect its borders, Fidesz‘s group leader said on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference at the end of a three-day meeting of the joint Fidesz-Christian Democrats parliamentary group in Velence, Máté Kocsis said the Sargentini report had been drafted and approved by “associates of [US financier] George Soros“.

“Soros’s mercenaries have stigmatised Hungary out of revenge” because Hungarians have made their views clear on illegal migration on multiple occasions, Kocsis insisted.

He said the Sargentini report violated the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty, so the Fidesz-KDNP group will ask the government to “take every possible legal step” to defend Hungary against the report.

Péter Harrach, KDNP’s group leader, said he believed the Hungarian MEPs who voted for the report were guilty of treason. He agreed that the report had been adopted with the help of “procedural tricks”.

He said

MEPs who voted to approve the report had been pressured by representatives of a “decadent ideology” that “condemns Hungary for wanting to create a normal world”.

Photo: MTI

Orbán to take part in EP debate of LIBE report on Hungary

Orbán Milan Italy

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will attend the European Parliament’s plenary session on September 11, when the EP is scheduled to discuss the civil liberties committee’s report on the rule of law in Hungary, daily Magyar Idők said on Friday.

The EP is scheduled to vote on the report on the next day, the paper said.

In spring 2017, the EP’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) was asked to prepare a report on Hungary with a view to holding an EP vote on launching the first steps of Article 7, which suspends voting rights. In the report, rapporteur and Green MEP Judith Sargentini said there was a “clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the values of the European Union”, which she said warranted launching the Article 7 procedure.

The report warned of a curbing of freedom rights in Hungary.

The committee adopted the report this June, with 37 votes in favour and 19 against. A letter sent to MEPs explaining the Hungarian government’s stance on the report has had no effect, the paper said.

Orbán has said that

the report could be considered a “Soros report”, aimed at pressuring Hungary to change its standpoint on the issue of migration, “but that will not happen”.

Since its drafting, the mandatory quota system “has been taken off the agenda”, with a growing number of countries backing Hungary’s view, he said.

As we wrote yesterday, David B. Cornstein, the United States’ ambassador to Hungary, said he has not experienced any infringement on freedom rights in Hungary and should the case be the opposite, he would certainly speak out against that, in an interview published by Jewish political and cultural magazine Shabbat, read more HERE.

Photo: MTI

All asylum seekers eligible for care, says Hungarian government

border-migration-hungary

All asylum seekers staying in a transit zone are eligible for care services and are receiving these services, the Government Information Centre said on Friday.

Recent press reports about the lack of services in transit zones are purely based on lies by “Soros organisations” and are parts of these organisations’ efforts to discredit Hungary, the statement said.

The Hungarian state spends more than an annual 700,000 forints (EUR 2,160) per capita on services for asylum seekers, the statement added.

If a request for asylum is rejected, the asylum seeker in question must leave the transit zone, they said.

The laws pertaining to the care of asylum seekers and their implementation have not changed over the last several days, the centre added.

Over the past week, a number of news portals reported that Hungarian authorities were refusing to provide food to some asylum seekers in the transit zones at Hungary’s southern border.

On Thursday,

the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), acting on a request by the Helsinki Committee, a rights group, ordered Hungary to provide food to rejected asylum seekers who have submitted an appeal and are still staying in the transit zone.

Photo: Károly Árvai/kormany.hu

Orbán’s cabinet: Sweden’s leaders ‘on the side of migrants’

A government official, responding to Sweden’s intervention in the European Court of Justice case concerning Hungarian law on civil organisations, has said that it was “well known” that the Swedish political leadership was “on the side of migrants”.

The European Commission has taken Hungary to the European court over its law on civil society organisations financed from abroad and Sweden has spoken up for the commission in the case.

Pál Völner, parliamentary state secretary of the justice ministry, said the Hungarian government continued to insist that Hungary would not become a country “flooded” by migrants.

He insisted that “the forces of immigration” were determined to intervene in Hungary’s domestic affairs.

It was well known, he added, that “foreign-funded migration organisations” had lobbied Sweden’s ambassador to Hungary.

Völner said the government always put the Hungarian people and their security first.

Referring to US billionaire George Soros and his “network”, he said the Hungarian law on the transparency of foreign-financed organisations was well-founded and a sweeping majority of Hungarian people agreed, with 99 percent of respondents in a national consultation backing the government’s policy.

Völner noted that all European Union member states are entitled to have their views known at the European court.

But when it comes to infringement proceedings initiated by the commission, member states do not generally interfere on the side of the commission, he added.

The Swedish government’s intervention is surprising given its reputation as a “leader in transparency”, and the Hungarian law aims to ensure just that, he said.

Hungary’s government has maintained in court that the law does not restrict a foreigner’s right to financially support an NGO. Neither does it prevent an NGO from accepting foreign money for pursuing activities specified in its instruments of incorporation.

Its aim is to ensure their transparency while making it clear to the general public that should an NGO receive support from abroad, this would not be at the expense of public security, Völner added.

The state secretary said the government rejected the commission’s argument that disclosure of financing from abroad would stigmatise an NGO. Such data is no different to other types contained in the court register, such as existence or otherwise of charitable status, he said.

The commission, he added, had not provided any concrete evidence that the alleged stigmatisation would lead to a reluctance to subsidise an NGO and thereby hinder its activities.

Völner said transparency was about eliminating risk from sources of unknown origin that may have a negative bearing on Hungary’s political and social life.

The commission does not contest this aim or its legitimacy, he said, adding that Brussels generally understood that public security considerations and the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing justified measures to increase the transparency of capital movements, even if the body disputed the specific Hungarian law in question.

The ‘Soros organisation’ Reporters Without Borders tries to interfere in Hungarian media, says Orbán cabinet

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Another “Soros organisation” has attempted to interfere in Hungary’s media affairs, the parliamentary group of ruling Fidesz said on Saturday, in reaction to a recent statement by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

RSF statement posted on its website on Friday:

One of Hungary’s last critical media outlets taken over by Orbán allies

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns Hungarian TV news channel Hir TV’s acquisition by a friend of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as the latest step in a takeover of the country’s media by Orbán and his ruling national-conservative Fidesz party.

Lajos Simicska, a former Orbán friend and now outspoken opponent, finally relinquished control of Hir TV on 1 August to Zsolt Nyerges, a businessman and Orbán ally who had acquired the media group that includes Hir TV on 5 July. It also includes a news website, a political weekly, a daily newspaper and radio station.

The new owner immediately executed a U-turn in Hir TV’s editorial line, turning it into a pro-Fidesz channel. Just hours after the takeover was confirmed, the channel shut down its leading news programme – which was well-known for criticizing the government – and fired its anchor, Olga Kálmán.

An Orbán speech was rebroadcast in its stead. Other journalists and executives have also been fired since then, further departures are expected and Nyerges has appointed Gabor Liszkay, the owner of a pro-Fidesz media company, as “media adviser.”

“This takeover by Fidesz allies is yet further confirmation of the government’s determination to control the media,” RSF said. 

“The authorities are increasingly curbing the independence of the press and its ability to fulfil its role as democracy’s watchdog.”

The latest acquisition has brought an emblematic opposition TV channel into the pro-Fidesz media camp, which has been growing for years as the party has steadily acquired media outlets as part of a strategy for silencing political opposition. To avoid being seen as openly in control of the media, Orbán uses as well-established method in which allies buy up media companies and reorient their editorial policies by means of censorship, dismissals and closuresThe opposition daily Népszabadság was closed in 2016 after covering a scandal involving the prime minister, while the leading regional newspapers were acquired by Orbán allies in 2017.

Democracy has been in retreat in Hungary ever since Orbán’s return to the premiership in 2010 and it is now ranked 73rd out of 180 countries in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index.

Fidesz reaction

In response, Fidesz said that RSF had made no secret of being financed by US billionaire George Soros and acting as part of the “pro-migration Soros network”.

“It shows that yet another pro-migration Soros organisation tries to interfere in Hungary’s media affairs and domestic politics,” Fidesz said.

Opposition LMP urges state audit of Fidesz’s campaign spending

Fidesz Baile Tusnad

The opposition LMP party has turned to the State Audit Office (ASZ) and requested a probe into financing details of ruling Fidesz’s campaign before the April general election, a spokesman for the party told a press conference on Monday.

Gábor Vágó insisted that the government had violated rules through its “Stop Soros” campaign, from which Fidesz benefitted. He said that the government had spent “billions of forints” to get Fidesz’s message through to voters, thus influencing the outcome of the vote.

Vágó called on ASZ to “apply the same standards” for all political parties and impose a fine on Fidesz once the audit is complete.

ASZ said in response that it monitors campaign financing “in full compliance with relevant laws” and using “the same criteria” for all organisations. ASZ will audit all winning candidates and political parties within one year of the April 8 vote and publish a report of its finding, the authority said in its statement.

Featured image: MTI

Orbán: EU’s borders must be protected – Bild interview

bild orbán merkel

The European Union’s borders must be protected in a way that nobody should be either accepted or allowed to enter the continent, the Hungarian prime minister told German Bild Zeitung in an interview published online.

“Every single migrant who has been rescued must return to Africa. This is the only way to prevent a great number of deaths occurring at sea,” Viktor Orbán told the paper.

Establishing a migration policy should not be a common matter for the EU as a bloc; it should remain a national competence for each individual member state, he said.

Orbán said the responsibility rested primarily with those who decide to make the journey to Europe, adding that European politicians who give migrants the hope that it is worth leaving their homes were also to blame.

“If we want to save lives we must stop people at the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea to prevent them from setting off on their hopeless journey,” he said.

He noted three key measures Hungary had put in place to tackle illegal migration over the past three years. These include protecting the country’s borders along with the EU’s external borders, providing help to people in need in their home countries and allowing every member state the sovereign decision of whether or not to take in migrants, he said.

Asked whether Hungary would be ready to accept migrants on a voluntary basis, Orbán said that Hungarian people had clearly voted against this in April.

Hungary provides help to women and children at its borders, but refuses to allow economic migrants to enter its territory, he said.

Asked about remarks made by the German chancellor following a recent EU summit in Brussels on “an agreement” with Hungary on the acceptance and relocation of migrants, Orbán said he had reaffirmed to Angela Merkel that Hungary was ready for talks on the matter “at any time”. Asked to give his opinion on the German chancellor’s performance, Orbán said it was not his, but the German people’s job.

The prime minister was also asked about US financier George Soros and anti-Semitism.

Orbán said he saw “an old Hungarian speculator” in Soros, “a representative of a casino capitalism, who is spending his money on supporting immigration”.

Concerning anti-Semitism, Orbán said it was in decline in central Europe, but had become more prevalent in western Europe in acts that can be linked to immigration which “Hungary follows with concern”.

Photo: bild.de

Fidesz-KDNP: Immigration levy another layer of protection for Hungary

migration almeira spain

A levy on immigration, which could be called a “Soros tax”, provides another line of defense for Hungary, the spokesman for the parliamentary group of governing Fidesz said at a press conference on Sunday.

All organisations that support immigration will have to pay the levy, according to legislation approved by lawmakers on Friday that will come into force before the summer ends, said István Hollik.

The law introduces a 25 percent levy on “material support for the operation of NGOs whose activities support immigration”.

It subjects NGOs to the levy that provide assistance to the immigration of non-EU nationals or foreigners without residency permits either “directly or indirectly”. Such “programmes, operations [or] activities” that “are designed to promote immigration” may be in the framework of “conducting or participating in media campaigns and media seminars”, “organising education”, “establishing or operating networks” or “propaganda that paints immigration in a positive light”. All proceeds from the levy will go towards protecting the border.

Hollik said the immigration levy provides the country with another means of protection in addition to the border fence, legal measures taken to seal the border, a constitutional amendment prohibiting the resettlement in the country of foreign nationals without right of residency or freedom of movement, and the passage of the “Stop Soros” package of legislation, referring to a plan for managing the migrant crisis earlier outlined by the investor George Soros.

“Soros organisations” will have to pay if they undertake any activities supporting immigration and if anybody accepts support for this purpose, he added.

The “Soros organisations” are working to make Europe a continent of immigrants and Hungary a country of immigrants, which is why the levy could be dubbed the “Soros tax”, Hollik said.

Photo: MTI/EPA/Carrasco Ragel

EC launches infringement procedure against Hungary over ‘Stop Soros’ laws

EU flag

The European Commission has launched an infringement procedure against Hungary over its recently passed “Stop Soros” package of laws.

EC spokesperson Mina Andreeva told a press briefing on Thursday that the commission has sent the Hungarian government a letter of formal notice concerning the “Stop Soros” laws and related constitutional amendments.

The EC has given the Hungarian authorities two months to respond to its concerns.

The Hungarian parliament passed the contested laws in June, aimed at penalising the “promotion or organisation of illegal migration”.

The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe earlier criticised some passages in the new legislation, arguing that they would seriously hinder the operation of legitimate civil groups.

Also on Thursday, the EC said it will take Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union over the country’s asylum law, initiating the third phase of the ongoing infringement procedure in connection with that legislation. The infringement procedure was launched in December 2015.

Fidesz

Ruling Fidesz said in reaction that the latest infringement procedure confirmed that that Brussels supported migration and “is protecting the Soros organisations”.

“The Stop Soros law and the constitutional amendment prohibiting the settlement of migrants in Hungary stand in their way, this is why they launched the procedure,” the party said in a statement. “

As long as the Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance is in government, Stop Soros and the constitutional amendment will remain intact, because the Hungarian people have made it clear that they do not want Hungary to be made into a country of immigrants,” they added.

Jobbik

Conservative Jobbik called the infringement procedure “unacceptable” and said that Hungary had not enacted any measures incompatible with its duty to protect the European Union’s external borders. Jobbik added, at the same time, that the “Stop Soros” law alone would not be enough to curb migration. Migration can only be combatted by enacting strict measures at a national level, Jobbik said, adding that this was why they have proposed the establishment of an independent border guard.

EU to start infringement procedure over Hungary’s ‘Stop Soros’ laws

stop soros law

The European Commission is likely to initiate an infringement procedure against Hungary on Thursday concerning its recently passed “Stop Soros” package of laws, MTI learnt from EU officials on Wednesday.

As a first step the commission will send a letter of formal notice concerning the laws, which the body has found problematic in various ways. The Hungarian authorities will then have one or two months to respond to the concerns.

If the government’s response it not forthcoming or unsatisfactory, the commission will send a reasoned opinion as a second step and then escalate the matter to the European Court of Justice, if necessary.

The Hungarian parliament passed the contested laws in June, aimed at penalising the “promotion or organisation of illegal migration”.

The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe earlier criticised some passages in the new legislation, arguing that they would seriously hinder the operation of legitimate civil groups.

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz said that “Brussels is again championing Soros” and “trying to put Hungary under pressure”.

The European Commission is “strongly influenced by the Soros network and promotes its pro-migration policy”, János Halász, Fidesz’s parliamentary spokesman, said. He argued that scrapping laws under which migrants cannot be settled in the country would “obviously” serve the interests of “the Soros network and allied Brussels politicians” who continue their efforts to “flood Europe with migrants for reasons of political and financial speculation”.

“We insist that Hungary will not be a migrant destination and we cannot accept that migrants are openly encouraged to bypass European and Hungarian laws,” Halász added.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/MagyarországKormánya

Leftist opposition DK: Stake of 2019 EP election ‘open or reclusive Europe’

Daily News Hungary

The meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán this week has shown that voters will have to decide between a humane EU built on liberal democracy or an “autocratic future within fences and walls” at the 2019 EP election, an MEP of the leftist Democratic Coalition said on Saturday.

Péter Neidermüller told a press conference in Budapest that the prime minister “has obviously committed himself to far-right governments”. In doing so, Orbán ruins moderate right-wing politics in Europe, he said.

Orbán “refuses to understand” that restrictive immigration policies do not solve the problem but boost the activities of human smugglers,

Neidermüller, who is also DK’s deputy leader, said.

Orbán met Merkel in Berlin on Thursday, where they discussed economic cooperation, defence policy and their countries’ migration policies. Merkel said after the talks that defence cooperation between Germany and Hungary was close, and called for further strengthening economic ties in the EU in the face of challenges such as digitalisation, alternative modes of transport and artificial intelligence. Orbán said that Hungary is taking a big burden off Germany’s shoulders by preventing anyone who enters Hungary from sidestepping the law, and that Hungary’s border protection efforts should be recognised as solidarity.

Ruling Fidesz responded by saying that

Neidermüller “is considered a faithful ally of [American financier George] Soros in Brussels”.

He is “one of those who have voted in favour of every pro-migration decision, he regularly participates in attacks against Hungary, supports mandatory migrant resettlement” and has signed a resolution saying that NGOs offering humanitarian assistance to migrants should not be punished for their actions, the party said in a statement.

Orbán’s cabinet: ‘Stop Soros’ law adds new protections against illegal migration

The “Stop Soros” package of laws that came into force on Sunday provides Hungary with the best possible protections against the people who organise and finance illegal migration, a ruling Fidesz lawmaker said on Sunday.

István Bajkai said the Soros network was still busily working on its plan to disperse migrants across Europe and turn it into a continent of mixed populations.

He told a press conference that the judiciary now had strong powers and the legal means to take steps against those who encourage migrants to circumvent the law.

Under the “Stop Soros” law, helping illegal migration is a criminal offense, usually punished by imprisonment and, in more serious cases, by imprisonment or banishment from the country, he noted.

Bajkai said it was clear in the parliamentary vote on the package that the opposition supported migration and the Soros network.

History shows that the left wing always opposes Hungarians and their interests, and this time round, the left wing was ready to thwart legislation stopping migration, he insisted. Fidesz, he added, was always ready to defend the country.

The Fidesz politician noted that from today the judiciary was expected to be ready to apply the new legislation and carry out their work more effectively.

The police are ready in this regard, he added.

Featured image: MTI/AP

V4 notched up big success at the EU summit, says Hungarian FM

Under the prime minister of Hungary’s leadership, the Visegrad Group has notched up a big success with the resolution adopted at the European Union summit which deals with the problems of migration in a meaningful framework, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

In the past three years, the debate on migration revolved in a “hypocritical and dogmatic” way around the question of which EU member states, and the extent to which, they should give up their own sovereignty, Szijjártó told public radio.

“The causes of migration have not disappeared at all,” he said, adding that more and more people are arriving in the Western Balkans with the help of NGOs in cooperation with smugglers. Around 30-35 million people in North Africa and the Middle East can decide at any time to make their way to Europe, he said.

Szijjártó said it was a testament to the success of V4 diplomacy that European views on how to handle migration had shifted towards the positions of central Europe.

He said international organisations with the backing of US billionaire George Soros would do everything in their power to put Europe into a post-Christian, post-nation period.

“The most important task is to protect Hungary, central Europe and, if possible, the whole of Europe,” the minister said.

Hungary, he added, is not an immigrant country. Europe should stick to its heritage and traditions that have made it the strongest of continents, Szijjártó said.

Meanwhile, he said Visegrad cooperation was becoming more stable, closer and stronger.

Szijjártó said that attacks by international forces had intensified after the European Council adopted a different position to that of “NGOs that want to replace the European population”. Hungary must cooperate effectively within the V4 and other countries with similar positions, he said.

He pointed out that the Austrian chancellor had been in Budapest the week before the EU summit.

Szijjártó said

an imminent meeting between Viktor Orbán, the prime minister, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel would be of “exceptional significance”.

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He noted that Germany is Hungary’s biggest economic partner. The performance of Hungary’s economy is fundamentally determined by its ties to Germany, he said, adding that the European political situation related to migration increased the significance of this kind of meeting, Szijjártó said.

Photo: MTI