NGOs

Hungarian government ready to scrap law prompting infringement procedure

Hungary is ready to scrap the legislation on foreign-funded NGOs, and has sent a draft amendment to the statute to the European Commission, Justice Minister Judit Varga said on Friday, reacting to the EC’s announcement that it was launching an infringement procedure against Hungary over the matter.

On Thursday, the EC launched an infringement procedure against Hungary for flouting a ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning its law on civil organisations. In a letter of formal notice to Hungary, the EC called on Hungary to implement the CJEU’s ruling of June 2020, in which the court ruled that Hungarian regulation of foreign-funded NGOs violated EU rules on the free movement of capital as well as the fundamental right to protection of personal data and freedom of association.

Varga said on Facebook that once the EC approved the draft, the Hungarian government was ready to submit it to parliament so it could be tabled in the spring session.

The European Commission referred Hungary to the CJEU over legislation accepted in 2017, requiring NGOs to make full disclosure of foreign funding over 7.2 million forints (EUR 208,700).

Referring to the law, Varga said on Friday that the government had “made the funding of NGOs transparent to make it clear which NGOs are trying to exert political pressure on Hungarian public life with foreign support.”

Although Hungary acted fairly and transparently, the EC launched a “politically motivated procedure” resulting in the CJEU’s ruling last June, she said.

Meanwhile, Hungary assured the EU several times that it was ready to comply with the ruling and to take steps to implement it, she said. Dialogue on the matter was ongoing with the EC, she said.

“While some opposition politicians are rejoicing for the initiative of an unfair infringement proceeding against their country in Brussels, the Hungarian government is doing its job,” Varga said.

“It is time for [Brussels] to do their part of the work as well,” she said.

Read alsoEU court: Hungary failing to fulfil obligation to protect asylum-seekers

February 20, 2021

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.

February 28, 2020

NGOs demonstrate for Roma interests

A demonstration for the interests of Roma people was held in Budapest on Sunday with the slogan “Free Court! Free Gyöngyöspata!” referring to a contested court ruling on compensation payment to segregated Roma pupils in the northern Hungarian village of Gyöngyöspata.

The demonstration was organised by the Szabad Bíróság Szabad Gyöngyöspata (Free Court, Free Gyöngyöspata) group, Amnesty International Magyarorszag, the Civil Liberties Union (TASZ), the 1 Hungary Initiative, Szocsoma, the We Belong Here network and the Fonix Movement.

Gathering on a square near Nyugati railway station, the demonstrators moved to the building of Hungary’s supreme court Kúria where speakers demanded the independence of courts.

Then they moved to Kossuth Square near Parliament under signs that read “Nobody stands above the law” and “National Roma Alliance”.

Read alsoOrbán cabinet asks top court for expedited hearing in Roma segregation case

There were no signs referring to political parties but several anti-government signs were carried, as well as flags of the teachers union PDSZ, the Hungarian Network of Academics and the international left-wing organisation Antifaschistische Aktion.

Former Budapest Mayor Gábor Demszky, former Alliance of Free Democrats lawmaker Gábor Iványi, former Alliance of Free Democrats and Socialist lawmaker Imre Mécs and head of the Hungarian Roma Parliament organisation Aladár Horváth were among the protesters.

Addressing the demonstration, Jenó Setet, head of We Belong Here, said that the “events of recent weeks” concerning the Gyöngyöspata compensation issue were intolerable. He said that the “Roma communities came under the most severe attack of the past thirty years.”

Setet said that the government was inciting hatred in the interest of political gains and the Roma were used as an excuse for attacking courts.

Read alsoFidesz cabinet: ‘Soros network’ incites hatred between Hungarians, Roma

The victims of the 2009 Roma killings of Tatárszentgyörgy were also remembered.

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.

The local authority and the school district asked the Kúria to review the binding ruling last year.

Prime ministerial commissioner and ruling Fidesz regional representative Laszlo Horvath said in a Facebook message that the organisers of the demonstration “had exposed themselves” because fewer than a busload of people arrived for the demonstration from the village of Gyöngyöspata. “Some 98 percent of Gyöngyöspata residents said no to this political act,” he said.

It is clear that “organisations supported by [US billionaire] George Soros” do not want peaceful coexistence between Hungarians and Roma and their “recipe” is to incite conflict and “call the Roma in arms” against the majority society, he added.

February 24, 2020

New scholarship by the Hungarian government to encourage foreign languages

A new scholarship programme by the government, regulated by the Tempus Public Foundation, is said to support 90,000 of the country’s students when they travel to the UK, Ireland, Malta, Germany, Austria, France, and China this summer to take part in two-week language courses, reports PIE News.

Each student will be awarded €2,000, meaning the government will provide around €180m in funding. However, the total funding could exceed that figure significantly as exact numbers are still unknown, and as many as 140,000 students are eligible for the programme.

The programme is called the ‘Foreign Language Learning Scholarship Programme for Hungarian Secondary School Students in Grade 9 and 11′ initiative and is available to only those students who are already studying the subjects in high school. They are able to travel individually or in organised groups and will arrive between June 13 and August 31 of this year.

Tímea Tiboldi, the head of the Tempus Public Foundation’s Language Learning Unit, told PIE News that the initiative has been set up to help motivate students who are studying languages.

“Once [the students] have the experience of studying the specific language in an authentic environment, it will hopefully stimulate their motivation to learn that language,” she said.

“They will be able to make friendships which last for a life-time. We very much hope that they will socialize with their peers… [And] when they return home their language learning appetite will increase so that they will be more efficient in learning foreign languages.”

Read alsoHungary to start scholarship programme for young Middle East Christians

Institutions and students were advised not to have strong preferences towards specific target countries before the course offerings of the language schools are made public. This is because demand will have to be adjusted to the capacity of the language schools.

ELT schools have also expressed their enthusiasm for the programme, with the UK set to gain the most from this influx of international students. Short Courses director at CATS Colleges, Carl Roberton, oversees short courses for Stafford House London which is set to accept Hungarian students this year. He explained that at first, he did not realise the scale of the initiative. However, Roberton also highlighted one of the challenges of such a large number of students from one nationality.

“It’s probably more students than the whole English language business in the UK can manage and maintain a good nationality mix for those students,” he suggested.

Jodie Gray, the interim chief executive of English UK, said the association and its member centres are feeling “very optimistic” about the programme. Gray explained that the programme will have a hugely positive impact on the UK’s ELT sector and its international community of students.

“It presents an opportunity for British Council accredited teaching centres to welcome tens of thousands of Hungarian young people, helping them to develop their English language skills and experience what the UK has to offer and be inspired,” she added.

“We’re supporting the Tempus Public Foundation, who is managing the program, in order to ensure that every Hungarian student has the best possible time in the UK.”

Tempus Public Foundation has worked with the British Council to find ELT school partners in the UK. Roy Cross, the principal consultant at the British Council, told PIE that the British Council welcomes the “ambitious” Hungarian government programme.

“[It] has the potential to transform how the next generation of young Hungarians relates to and engages with the United Kingdom,” Cross added.

Read alsoGovt Scholarship Programme to Help 11,000 Needy Children

February 21, 2020

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”.

January 31, 2020

Three-quarters of Hungarians reject ‘prison business’ compensation payments

prison hungary kató alpár dnh 2020 human traffickers

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

January 22, 2020

Survey: Majority of Hungarians want to ban ‘pro-migration NGOs’

Fully 61 percent of Hungarians want pro-migration NGOs to be banned, according to a survey by the Századvég Foundation released on Friday.

Fully 59 percent of respondents said the activities of NGOs that help migrants were harmful, while 30 percent considered them useful.

Altogether 70 percent of Századvég’s sample said the government should take tougher action against people smugglers.

Read alsoHungarian law requiring NGOs to disclose foreign funding incompatible with EU law

The survey also indicated general support for transit zones, with 86 percent of respondents regarding them as vital to the country’s security, while 10 percent wanted them abolished.

“Hungarian voters do not sympathise with the activities of NGOs tied to [US financier] George Soros,” Századveg said, adding that such activities could lead to a weakening of Hungarian border protection and the encouragement of illegal migration.

January 17, 2020

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.

January 17, 2020

Hungarian law requiring NGOs to disclose foreign funding incompatible with EU law

Hungary’s law on the financing of civil organisations from abroad infringes on the principle of free movement of capital and violates a number of fundamental rights of the European Union’s basic charter, a legal adviser to the EU’s top court said on Tuesday.

Advocate General Campos Sanchez-Bordona said the restrictions on NGOs are incompatible with EU law.

The law on the transparency of NGOs that receive funding from abroad was passed in 2017.

The European Commission has since launched an infringement procedure against Hungary at the EU court.

The European Union’s Court of Justice advocate general said in a non-binding opinion that the law that requires NGOs to release data if they receive funding from abroad infringes on respect for private life, protection of personal data, and freedom of association enshrined in the EU charter of fundamental rights.

January 14, 2020

Justice minister: EU Article 7 procedure ‘witch hunt’ against Hungary

The European Union’s Article 7 procedure against Hungary is a “witch hunt masked as a legal process”, Justice Minister Judit Varga said on Thursday.

Speaking to public news channel M1, Varga said that though Hungary was putting forward legal arguments during the procedure, because it had been launched “on political grounds”, it would also need to be closed on the basis of a political decision.

If the EU considered Hungary’s legal arguments, the proceedings could have been closed a long time ago, she said, arguing that had made its position clear on multiple occasions over the course of the procedure.

Varga described the procedure as a “well-conceived operation” as part of which “organisations backed by the Open Society Foundation release opinions that are then cross-referenced, used in the drafting of reports and then they have member states read them out.”

Commenting on Tuesday’s hearing on the state of the rule of law in Hungary in the European Union’s General Affairs Council, Varga said no one at the hearing “was interested in our answers”, adding that the entire procedure “is starting to look ridiculous”.

She noted that EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders had made it clear during the hearing that the commission had no intention of ending the procedure. The minister said the EU was looking to turn the procedure into a “never ending story” by inserting topics that were not even mentioned in the so-called Sargentini report that had launched it.

Read alsoEuropean Parliament approves Sargentini report on Hungary

Varga also lamented that the “disorderly” way in which the Sargentini report had been approved “is never brought up”.

“This is another use of double standards, that we respect the rule of law but the European institutions are constantly breaking the rules over the course of the procedure,” Varga said.

December 12, 2019

Budapest mayor-elect: New leadership seeks partnership with govt

Budapest’s new leadership is ready to develop a partnership with the government, mayor-elect Gergely Karácsony said on Wednesday.

Karácsony told an international press conference that he would ask for a personal meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán after he enters office on Friday.

Karácsony also said that he would invite all opposition mayors in October to set up a so-called alliance of free cities. He also said that he would ask the rector of the Central European University in writing to keep as many activities in Budapest as possible under Hungary’s higher education law.

Karácsony said he was planning to maintain partnerships and that outgoing Mayor István Tarlós was an “extremely correct partner” during the preparations for handing over his post.

The inaugural meeting of the new General Assembly is expected to discuss a package based on the recommendations of anti-corruption NGOs focusing on transparency, social and green issues, Karácsony said. Following the example of other large cities around the world, Budapest plans to declare a climate emergency as a symbolic measure, he added. Budapest’s new leadership will pay significantly more attention to climate change than its predecessor, he said.

As part of the social package, preparations will be started to make public transport free of charge for young people under the age of 14, Karácsony said.

Before the end of this year public transport will be made free for children under 7 as against the current age limit of 6 and registered jobseekers will also be allowed to travel free of charge, he added.

Immediate measures are planned concerning development projects in the City Park and the Római embankment, he said. He added that municipal companies would be prohibited from exercising provisions in the “slave law”, referring to amendments to the Labour Code affecting overtime approved by lawmakers last December. He promised to initiate the establishment of a conciliation council for the capital.

In response to a question, Karácsony said he would raise the issue of Budapest’s underfinancing when meeting with the government.

He added that Budapest suffered from high debt and state consolidation would be the only way out.

He said he disagreed with stadium construction projects of the past and would not support new projects because of their “stellar costs” and because they took away areas from Budapest that should instead be “turned green”.

He promised to increase resources for homeless services and to set up new accommodation options in the medium term in order to provide better conditions than homeless shelters.

Karácsony said a new strategy would be drafted to deal with overtourism in Budapest, adding that regulations on tourist buses and boats should be rethought. He said a prohibition on docking cruise ships in the city as well as on sight-seeing boats could be weighed.

October 17, 2019

Government spokesman: “Soros won’t decide EP vote’s outcome with his money”

The government will not allow “George Soros and his money” to decide the outcome of the European Parliament elections, government spokesman Istvan Hollik told a press conference on Thursday.

The spokesman insisted that the US billionaire and the NGOs he financed were attempting to manipulate the EP election.

Meanwhile, he responded to a question about Jean-Claude Juncker’s recent comments to CNN in which the European Commission president called nationalists “stupid” and berated populist leaders.

Hollik said it was “quite amazing” that anyone in Europe declaring their love for country and nation was held to be guilty of a sin. Juncker’s statement, he added, proved that “the pro-migration elite in Brussels” did not stand behind the people of Europe and their security but supported immigrants.

He said May 26 presented an “excellent opportunity” to remove pro-migration politicians from the European Union.

May 23, 2019

CoE rights commissioner urges steps for Hungary refugee protection, independence of NGOs, judiciary

Hungary must do more for the protection of refugees, the independence of civil society and the judiciary, gender equality and in the area of women’s rights, the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner said in a report released in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

“Human rights violations in Hungary have a negative effect on the whole protection system and the rule of law. They must be addressed as a matter of urgency,” Dunja Mijatovic said in the report she prepared on the basis of her visit to Hungary in February this year.

Hungarian legislation on immigration and asylum “undermines” the integration of refugees who have been granted asylum, the commissioner said, calling on the government to end the “crisis situation due to mass migration“.

Measures implemented under the law are not justified by the number of asylum seekers currently entering Hungary and the EU, she said, and called on the government to refrain from using anti-migrant rhetoric and campaigns.

The commissioner expressed concern over the “arbitrary nature of detention” of asylum seekers, including children, in the transit zones, calling on Hungarian authorities to work out alternative solutions.

Further, Mijatovic criticised recent legislation on civil society, calling some of the provisions “exceptionally vague” and “arbitrary”. She said that recent legislative measures imposing restrictions on civil society “have stigmatised and criminalised NGO activities which are fully legitimate in a democratic society,” calling for the legislation to be repealed.

She called on the Hungarian government to discontinue “intimidation, stigmatisation and smear campaigns” targeting NGOs and create a legal and social environment that allows these organisations to operate in line with human rights standards.

The commissioner noted that a series of reforms of the judiciary in Hungary during the 2010s had drawn concern about their effects on the independence of the judiciary. She stressed that it was essential for the rule of law that the checks and balances established for the exercise of the broad powers of the head of the National Judicial Office be fully observed in the ordinary court system.

Concerning the future system of administrative courts, Mijatovic urged strengthening “judicial self-governance” with a view to offsetting the “extensive powers of the justice minister”.

She said she had found backsliding in gender equality to the effect of a “strikingly low” representation of women in politics and the close association of women’s issues with family affairs in government policy.

“The authorities should address the unequal representation of women in public life through positive measures and take determined action to eradicate gender stereotypes in educational materials,” Mijatovic said.

The commissioner urged Hungarian authorities to ratify the CoE’s 2011 Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women.

May 22, 2019

Fidesz MP: NGOs must comply with Hungarian law

In Hungary, civil organisations “operate freely” and “are thriving”, a ruling Fidesz lawmaker said after a meeting of the justice committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Monday.

But every single civil organisation must stick to the law, and that applies to NGOs that support illegal migration, Barna Pál Zsigmond told MTI by phone from Paris.

Overall, 60,000 civil organisations operate in Hungary, he noted, adding that around a dozen are “regularly in the government’s crosshairs”.

The Fidesz MP said he had made it clear to the CoE committee that the government cannot tolerate the activities of NGOs that aid illegal migration and break Hungarian laws. The Hungarian people have made it clear that they “want nothing to do with illegal migration”, he added.

The debate in PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is a part of the upcoming European parliamentary election, Zsigmond said.

Referring to financier George Soros, he said it was “strange” that a “pro-Soros Ukrainian raporteur” had proposed putting the situation of NGOs in Hungary, and the country’s “stop Soros” package of laws against supporting illegal migration, on the agenda.

It was unsurprising, he added, that the rapporteur had also singled out Hungary for a country visit.

Italian representatives, among others, have clearly opposed attempts to frame Hungary’s anti-migration policies as an attack on civil organisations, Zsigmond said. This shows that other countries also recognise this problem, he added.

March 5, 2019

Soros political player for decades, tells Fidesz state secretary to BBC

Hungarian state secretary for international communications and relations Zoltán Kovács has told the BBC in an interview that financier George Soros became a political player two decades ago.

Kovács said in the HardTalk interview broadcast on Monday that this was clear from Soros’s own statements as well from the activities of the Open Society Foundation and Project Syndicate, which he said were the main conduits of the billionaire’s ideas about Europe.

Soros’s institutional network wields great power without ever having had an electoral mandate, he added.

NGOs linked to Soros have nothing to do with civil society, he said, adding that civil society is something that is built from the ground up. There are currently 65,000 such organisations in Hungary, he added.

Asked about an allegation by the head of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee NGO concerning harassment by the government, Kovács said the dispute was with a few dozen organisations and had nothing to do with civil groups run by ordinary people.

He said that ever since the migration crisis, the gap between the “western European left-liberal political elite” and voters in European Union member states had grown.

Meanwhile, Kovács denied that the Central European University (CEU) had left Budapest, saying that only one part of the CEU’s activities, which breached Hungarian laws, had left the country.

Michael Ignatieff, the CEU’s president and rector, told the BBC that CEU had been forced to split into two parts by the government. He said the government was unwilling to sign an agreement which, under a law passed in 2017, was necessary for the CEU to continue its activities in Budapest. In the absence of the agreement, the university cannot issue US accredited diplomas in Budapest, he noted.

Ignatieff insisted that the Hungarian government was “a regime that is hostile to any free institution”.

He also characterised the Hungarian government’s position on Soros as a “fantastical conspiracy theory”. Soros’s ability to influence developments in Hungary “is virtually zero”, he added.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/OpenSocietyFoundations

March 5, 2019

Deputy PM outraged by references to Venezuela Hungarians as ‘migrants’

Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén expressed “outrage” on Thursday over references to “migrants” in Hungarian media in connection with Hungarians living in Venezuela who have been brought to Hungary by the government.

“We object to the liberal press calling Venezuela Hungarians migrants. They’re not migrants,” Semjén told MTI.

“All Hungarians, wherever they may be in the world, can count on the motherland,” he said.

Several Hungarian media outlets reported recently that the Hungarian government has decided to take in hundreds of Venezuelan refugees with Hungarian ancestry.

Meanwhile, the leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) has called on ruling Fidesz to register as an organisation that supports migration which would oblige the party to pay a special 25 percent tax.

Citing news portal Index’s report on the government’s admission of Venezuelan Hungarians, DK managing director Csaba Molnár accused the government of taking in refugees in secret after having “waged a hate campaign” against them for years.

Molnár said DK’s problem was not with the government’s decision to admit refugees, but that “it has been campaigning for the opposite for a long time”.

By taking in the refugees from Venezuela, the government has admitted that its anti-refugee campaign “is just about fueling fear”, Molnár insisted. The cabinet, which is rhetorically against migration, “has become one of the most prominent supporters of migration”, he said.

Featured image: Screenshot from Index.hu

February 21, 2019

US Secretary of State Pompeo meets NGO leaders in Budapest

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met representatives of NGOs in Budapest on Monday, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ) said in a joint statement.

“Concerns regarding the rule of law and the situation of NGOs were highlighted at the meeting,” the statement said.

The statement said that co-head of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Márta Pardavi, raised issues such as “impairments to the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers”.

It added that she had also raised “government measures that weaken constitutionality and legislation approved in recent years that impairs Hungarian democracy”.

HUNGARIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE EXPRESSES CONCERNS OVER MIGRATION RULES

TASZ managing director Stefánia Kapronczay highlighted “the importance of an independent and diverse press,” while K-Monitor director Sándor Lederer presented a report on “the situation in Hungary in respect of corruption“.

The NGOs said the fact that Pompeo had met them and had expressed an interest in their opinions demonstrated that top US officials were dedicated to protecting the values of constitutionality and the role of civil society, even when it came to relations with allies.

February 11, 2019

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

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

January 25, 2019