NGOs

More than 2 million Hungarians reject ‘Soros plan’

More than 2 million Hungarians have said “no” to the entirety of the so-called Soros plan in the government’s nationwide public survey, a government official said on Tuesday.

More than 90 percent of the questionnaires sent in by mail have been processed and the results clearly show that Hungarians unanimously reject any plan that aides or encourages immigration, cabinet office state secretary Csaba Dömötör told a press conference.

Those who took part in the “National Consultation” survey unanimously rejected the settlement of one million migrants in Europe each year, the redistribution of migrants who have entered Europe among member states as well as the proposal to provide migrants with 9 million forints’ (EUR 28,700) worth of financial aid over their first two years living in the European Union, Dömötör said. Further,

they stand by protecting Hungary’s fence on its border with Serbia and reject the idea of putting pressure on member states that oppose the relocation of migrants, he added.

Asked about several municipal councils across Hungary having protested civil groups supported by Soros’s Open Society Foundation in recent days, the state secretary said the municipal councils in question had reason to suspect that NGOs backed by the foundation would aid immigration. Dömötör said he was not surprised that the municipal councils were using every method at their disposal to resist the migrant relocation plans.

featured image: https://nemzetikonzultacio.kormany.hu/

Hungarian mayors called on to discuss mandatory migrant relocation

Daily News Hungary

The head of the Association of County Seats (MJVSZ) on Tuesday called on mayors in Hungary to discuss ways to eliminate “the recent dangers” illegal migration causes to residents.

Károly Szita, the mayor of Kaposvár in south-western Hungary, told a press conference that he had sent letters to his colleagues, initiating a meeting for the discussion of the EU’s mandatory quotas during the first half of 2018.

Szita, of ruling Fidesz, noted that around 80 percent of mayors had signed a joint petition against EU migrant quotas in December last year.

“It gives cause to concern that according to reports Brussels has not given up on the mandatory relocation,” he said.

Szita added that the European Parliament had recently passed a resolution assigning civil organisations an increased role in facilitating migration.

He added that US billionaire George Soros would also fund civil organisations set up in Hungarian cities to implement his migration plan.

Such NGOs have already appeared in Pécs and Debrecen and the network continues to be built up in further cities and towns across Hungary, Szita said.

He said the key task for mayors is to ensure security and peace for residents.

Fidesz will not allow the implementation of the ‘Soros plan’

soros plan hungary

As long as Fidesz is governing Hungary, it will not allow the implementation of the “Soros plan” on migrant quotas, the minister in charge of the government’s Modern Cities programme said in Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, on Monday.

Efforts to set up and expand a network of civil organisations aimed at implementing the European Parliament’s mandatory migrant relocation plan are already under way, Lajos Kósa, the former mayor of the city, told a press conference.

As part of his plan, US billionaire George Soros has transferred 130 million forints (EUR 414,000) to a local NGO, the Association of Alternative Communities (AKE), he said.

But instead of performing real civil tasks, the AKE will help settle and integrate migrants, and facilitate family reunification procedures, Kósa added, insisting that the association’s operation was non-transparent.

“Debrecen has already done its share in tackling the migrant crisis; the city has fought for a long time for closing the local refugee camp that has caused a lot of problem for the residents in the area,” Kósa said.

László Papp, the mayor, said

the city firmly protests against the operation of “sham charity civil organisations” that help implement the Soros plan.

“These are political organisations,” Papp said and called on AKE to stop “its political activities”.

featured image: www.facebook.com/MagyarországKormánya

Foreign minister: Hungary’s stance on immigration policy reason for LIBE hearing

Had the Hungarian government not adopted its policy on immigration, Thursday’s hearing by the European Parliament’s committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs (LIBE) would not have taken place, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, told public radio in an interview on Sunday. 

The minister said over the past 18 months it had become clear that the political elite in western Europe and the people had begun to diverge.

Szijjártó insisted that

people in western Europe had “encouraged us”, saying “if only their governments would do the same; and finally someone has recognised the dangers inherent in illegal migration”.

“So it was hardly surprising that at the hearing, against all expectations, many more spoke with Hungary than those who spoke against it, and it is not at all surprising that our accusers and condemners were unable to raise a single concrete instance,” he said.

The hearing was “part of the same witch hunt” which has been held against Hungary “for the fourth time in short order”, he said.

The minister said

there was no reason why Hungary should be brought before any EP committee concerning the rule of law.

“There is nothing to be ashamed of, and nothing outstanding has happened in Hungary to distinguish it from other European Union member states,” Szijjártó said, adding that the country is in mid-field in terms of the number of infringement proceedings.

He said it was necessary to dispel the misconceptions in western Europe that NGOs paint of Hungary.

Szijjártó said that in the judicial phase of the infringement process “we will put forward all the existing arguments: that illegal migration is a danger to Europe and the [mandatory migrant distribution] quota is also dangerous because more and more people will form the idea that they can happily come to Europe”.

“The quota is in any case unworkable because anyone can freely travel between Schengen member states,” he added. 

“All this is contrary to European rules, because European treaties say that immigration is a national competence,” the minister said. It is only possible to restrict sovereignty by changing European treaties, but this would be a long, drawn-out process in which national parliaments would have a say rather than the European Commission or one of the ministerial councils in Brussels”, he added.

Meanwhile, on the topic of Ukraine’s education law that restricts teaching in the mother tongue, he said Friday had brought about “a very important victory” at the EU-Ukraine Association Council, since the EU “embraced Hungarian expectations”, making it clear that the EU expects Ukraine not to take away minority rights. Further, it expects Ukraine to engage in real and substantive dialogue with national minorities and to fully implement the recommendations of the Venice Commission, he noted.

Photo: MTI

European Commission steps up infringement of Hungary over laws

european commission

The European Commission is stepping up infringement procedures against Hungary concerning three areas: EU migrant quotas, the transparency of foreign-funded NGOs and higher education.

The EC said on Thursday that it will refer Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) over the three related laws.

It referred Hungary to the European court for failing to comply with a temporary emergency relocation scheme for refugees, stating that “Hungary has not taken any action at all since the relocation scheme started”.

The EC also referred the Czech Republic and Poland to the court over non-compliance on the matter. It launched infringement procedures against the three countries on the issue in June and took the process to the next level in July.

Hungary and Slovakia earlier challenged the scheme in the CJEU, but the court rejected their request to annul the decision by the Council of the European Union on the mandatory relocation of asylum seekers.

The EC also decided to refer Hungary to the Court of Justice over legislation on foreign-funded NGOs which “indirectly discriminates and disproportionately restricts donations from abroad to civil society organisations”.

“The Commission is also of the opinion that Hungary violates the right to freedom of association and the rights to protection of private life and personal data enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, read in conjunction with the EU Treaty provisions on the free movement of capital,” it added.

The EC launched an infringement procedure against Hungary over the law in August and stepped up the procedure with the issue of a “reasoned opinion” in October.

The EC said Hungary had failed to reply to the reasoned opinion by the one-month deadline and had not taken steps to amend or repeal the contested provisions in the NGO law.

The legislation on NGOs requires full disclosure of foreign funding over 7.2 million forints (EUR 23,400) a year.

Further, the EC has referred Hungary to the EU court over amendments to the country’s higher education act.

The amended legislation “disproportionally restricts EU and non-EU universities in their operations and needs to be brought back in line with EU law”, it said.

Last April, the EC launched the infringement procedure against Hungary over the amendments which require foreign colleges and universities in Hungary to operate on the basis of an intergovernmental agreement and to have a campus in the country in which they are based. It stepped up the procedure by sending the country a “reasoned opinion” on the matter in July, and it requested additional clarification in October.

Hungary has “maintained its position” on the law and has not brought it in line with EU legislation, the EC said.

The EC argued that the amended legislation violates the freedom to provide services, the freedom of establishment, the directive on services in the internal market, academic freedom rights, the right to education and the freedom to conduct a business as provided by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.

A statement by the ruling Fidesz party said “Brussels has launched a volley of bullets at Hungary” and the EU “is now openly using legal procedures as instruments of political blackmail and pressure”. Fidesz said the “attacks” were due to “Hungary obstructing the Soros plan”. Fidesz has also called on the government to “do everything to protect the Hungarian people and their national interests”.

Government sends response to EC over infringement procedure

Daily News Hungary

The Hungarian government considers the European Commission’s infringement procedure launched against Hungary’s law on the transparency of civil organisations as unfounded, in a formal response sent to the Commission on Tuesday, a justice ministry state secretary said.

The law orders NGOs to report financial support above 7.2 million forints (EUR 23,000) a year from donors outside of Hungary, and to specify the name and residence of foreign donors giving more than 500,000 forints, Pál Volner told a press briefing.

The law has not violated any EU or international regulation, he said.

Volner noted that the EC had shortened the regular two-month deadline for Hungary to respond to its queries in connection with high-profile infringement procedure cases concerning the NGOs, the migrant resettlement scheme and the law on higher education.

He added that EC President Jean-Claude Juncker and Vice-President Frans Timmermans had both met American financier George Soros in Brussels, and Timmermans had even briefed András Fekete-Győr, head of Momentum, a “tiny party we could easily call anarchist”, of the procedures. These moves have breached the EU law, which declares that

EU bodies only hold talks with the member states’ governments rather than home policy players, he said.

The state secretary said speculations that the Hungarian government wants to follow Russia in listing foreign-funded press as foreign agents are false.

“Hungary follows western examples, not Russian ones,” he said.

Soros to finance civil groups outside Budapest as part of campaign

George Soros’s Open Society Foundation is planning to assist civil groups in the provinces with “several hundred thousand” US dollars as part of the billionaire’s new strategy to “counter attacks by the Hungarian government”, portal abcug.hu reported on Thursday.

The portal said the campaign aimed to “present Soros as a philantropist, get closer to the people and gain popularity”.

Csaba Csontos, recently appointed spokesman for the foundation, told the portal that the foundation was planning to open new offices in Pécs, in southern Hungary, and in Debrecen in the east.

Csontos said that the funds would be dedicated to financing housing, education, health and poverty-related projects through two local organisations in the two cities.

“This is not only about contributing money but about building communities; the two new offices will function as community centres where local activists can promote initiatives in the area,” he said.

He added that the aim was to support small projects with no more than 12,000 dollars each.

Speaking about problems in Hungary’s provinces, Csontos said that apart from poverty the largest issue was the disintegration of local communities, about which now “there is no dialogue or confidence”. “We want to see local communities managing issues; if somebody is in need of wood … people living in the neighbourhood should cooperate and help needy seniors,” he said.

Abcug.hu noted that the Open Society has so far been known in Hungary for their support to civil groups providing legal advice and said that “the government has attacked them from that side, too.”

As we wrote last week, the government knows exactly what US financier George Soros wants, and rejects his efforts to bring illegal migrants to Europe. For this reason, the government “is standing in his way”, the foreign minister told daily Magyar Hírlap in an interview.

Photo taken by Jeff Ooi

Christian Democrats: Momentum’s signature drive is a Soros move

Daily News Hungary

István Hollik, an MP of the co-ruling Christian Democrats, on Tuesday slammed the Momentum Movement’s signature drive to hold a referendum on the law on the transparency of non-governmental organisations, dismissing it as “nothing but another operation from team Soros”.

Hungary’s Supreme Court, the Kúria, approved a referendum bid on the NGO transparency law two weeks ago, overriding the National Election Committee’s July decision to reject it.

Speaking at a press conference in front of an opposition signature collection stand, Hollik said that 53 NGOs have already complied with the law requiring civil groups to register with a court as foreign-backed groups once their foreign donations reach 7.2 million forints (EUR 23,000) in a year.

Not a single one of the NGOs that have registered has indicated that they consider the law to be “pestering” or that it would make their continued operations impossible, Hollik insisted.

He said that by collecting signatures for a referendum, “team Soros” was “going against the will of the Hungarian people”, arguing that the NGO transparency law was backed by an overwhelming majority of voters in the government’s last “National Consultation” survey earlier this year.

“The will of the Hungarian people is clear,” Hollik said, arguing that Hungarians wanted to know which civil groups operating in Hungary receive significant financial backing from abroad.

He argued that the law was necessary because NGOs financed from abroad “play a key role in supporting migration and the attacks being mounted against Hungary”. “The Soros organisations are also there in Brussels levelling accusations at us when they are planning hearings against Hungary,” Hollik said, noting that the next hearing about Hungary in the European Parliament is scheduled for December 7.

Momentum deputy leader Tamás Soproni later appeared at the press conference and called it “outrageous” that the government had launched billboard campaigns costing billions of forints.

He challenged Hollik to a debate and asked him whether the referendum would be held if the opposition gathers the required 200,000 supporting signatures.

The law on the transparency of foreign-funded NGOs was passed by Hungary’s parliament in June. European Union funds do not count towards the 7.2 million forint threshold. The European Commission has launched an infringement procedure against Hungary over the law.

Top court approves referendum bid on NGO law

Daily News Hungary

Hungary’s Supreme Court, the Kúria, approved a referendum bid regarding the law on the transparency of non-governmental organisations in a binding ruling on Tuesday.

The proposal was submitted to the National Election Committee by Barnabás Kádár, a board member of the opposition Momentum Movement, as a private individual. The question submitted for approval reads: “Do you agree that the National Assembly should annul Act LXXVI on the Transparency of Organisations Receiving Foreign Funds?”

The Kúria’s ruling overrides the National Election Committee’s July decision to reject the bid.

An MP of the co-ruling Christian Democrats said in reaction that Momentum’s initiative was “an action plan to defend George Soros and his network”. István Hollik told a press conference that Momentum had “taken sides with pro-migration organisations” and is now working to “prevent transparency” of those organisations.

Hungary’s voters “are entitled to know which organisations receive significant funding from abroad, and it is all the more so when those organisations launch politically motivated attacks against a democratically elected government and its measures,” Hollik insisted.

Nine charities to receive 14.5 million euros grant for infrastructure upgrade

Daily News Hungary

Nine Hungarian charities have won EU grants worth a total 4.5 billion forints (EUR 14.5m) for infrastructure development projects, the state secretary for church relations said on Monday.

The Catholic, the Maltese, the Reformed and the Ecumenical Charities and the Red Cross will each be given 650 million forints and the Baptist Charity will receive 640 million forints, Miklós Soltész, who also heads the Charity Council, told a press conference.

The other three organisations including the United Hungarian Jewish Congregation (EMIH), the Johannite and the Saint Lucas Greek Catholic aid groups will each receive 200 million forints, he said.

The grants will be spent on infrastructure developments at 42 sites.

As we wrote on Spetember, aid workers of the Hungarian Baptist Charity have started work in Nederland, Texas, in the area savaged by hurricane Harvey.

Also we wrote on July, the Hungarian Red Cross has supported 1,300 people affected by the severe storms in late June, with financial and technical assistance from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

Tax preferences for sports sponsorship should be public, Hungary’s Supreme Court says

Data on tax preferences offered for corporate sponsorship of sports should be made public, Hungary’s Supreme Court (Kúria) said in a binding ruling on Wednesday.

The ruling concluded a lawsuit brought by Transparency International (TI) against the ministry of human resources and the economy ministry. The NGO has requested that corporate taxes allocated to sports sponsorship, which TI says could amount to 360 billion forints (EUR 1.16bn) between 2011 and 2016, be made public.

The Kúria has upheld the ruling of the appeal court saying that the right to information on public data takes precedence over the right to tax secrecy, and said that the data should be made accessible for the public.

Miklós Ligeti, head of Transparency International Hungary, called

the ruling a “great victory” and said that “blatant discrepancies” in the distribution of funds may be uncovered now.

Some estimates say that “certain clubs” received 1,000 times more in tax preferences than others, he said. Corrupt practices may also come to light if companies donating much for sponsorship do particularly well in public procurement tenders, he said.

The data should be handed to TI within two weeks after the delivery of the written ruling, possibly still this year, Ligeti said.

Commenting on the ruling, Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog told a press briefing on another matter that “it is our duty to comply with the court’s verdicts”.

Orbán’s cabinet: LIBE vote to reform Dublin rules goes against European Council intentions

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The European Parliament civil liberties committee’s decision to approve draft reforms to the Dublin refugee system goes against even the European Council’s intentions, the government spokesman told the press in London on Tuesday.

The EP’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) last Thursday approved a draft text on modifying the Dublin Regulation with a view to speeding up asylum procedures and ensuring a more equal distribution of the burden of migration among member states.

The draft reforms covertly transfer sovereign competencies from European Union member states, Zoltán Kovács insisted, arguing that the reforms would create a body that would practically introduce a mandatory and permanent quota mechanism for the redistribution of migrants and asylum seekers across the bloc.

Kovács reiterated Hungary’s opposition to a mandatory migrant quota system, calling it a “dangerous endeavour” and saying that it went against the interests of member states.

Hungary’s stance on this has been “very consistent”, he said, adding that the country would challenge such measures. Hungary’s ongoing government survey dubbed “national consultation” also serves this purpose, he said.

Citing a recent NATO report saying that tens of millions of people were preparing to flee to Europe, Kovács said the developments on European borders “are not temporary”.

He said Europe was late in tackling illegal migration, adding that this was “alarming” because certain players were seeking to organise illegal migration instead of trying to stop it.

On the topic of the Hungarian economy, he said economic growth would reach 4 percent by the end of the year. Consumption has been rising for 15 months straight, real wages are growing at a rate of over 10 percent while inflation remains low, Kovács said.

Unemployment is at an historic low of 4-4.1 percent, he said. Whereas unemployment stood at 11.4 percent in 2010, 700,000 new jobs have been created since then, mostly in the private sector, Kovács said.

The government’s target to create one million new jobs by the end of the decade remains achievable, he said.

Asked about Hungary’s NGO transparency law, Kovács said those that want to be a part of the political decision making process need to have a democratic mandate. NGOs, however, have no such mandate, since they have never contested an election, he added. Voter support is not the same as financial support, the government spokesman said.

The 18 billion dollars that US billionaire George Soros has transferred to his Open Society Foundation is more than the state budget’s personal income tax revenues, Kovács insisted.

Opposition leftist parties discuss potential solutions to Hungary’s housing problems

Daily News Hungary

Opposition parties discussed and generally agreed on a six-point proposal to resolve housing problems in Hungary put forward by the A Varos Mindenkié (The City is for All) civil group. 

At a forum held on Wednesday evening in Budapest, representatives of the Socialist Party, green opposition LMP, the leftist Democratic Coalition (DK), Együtt, Dialogue and Momentum were in agreement on five of the six points offered by the NGO.

The sole area of disagreement concerned the idea of enshrining the right to housing in Hungary’s constitution.

Socialist board member Lajos Korozs said the right to housing should have been cemented in the constitution long ago.

Együtt leader Viktor Szigetvári said the right to housing should be a second-generation right, arguing that requirements for it could be enforced on the level of laws.

DK’s Peter Niedermüller said

parties should think about how the right to housing could be enshrined in the constitution.

LMP co-leader Bernadett Szél said her party would set up a state-subsidised rental housing system, a debt management service, restore household maintenance subsidies and introduce long-term cuts to utility bills if it came into power.

Momentum board member Anna Orosz said the current housing subsidy system was “unsustainable” and “morally unacceptable” because it favoured the upper middle class.

The politicians agreed on the need to expand the existing rental housing sector.

They also agreed that a uniform housing maintenance subsidy should be introduced in every city and town in the country. Further, a debt management service and debt reduction subsidy should be made available to everyone.

The parties also concurred on the need to establish an affordable private rental housing sector and to institutionalise the right to housing for families with children.

They also agreed on the need to provide housing support to homeless people instead of criminalising homelessness.

Orbán: Brussels performing ‘Soros plan’

The “Brussels machinery” is performing US billionaire George Soros’s pro-migration plan, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview to public radio on Friday.

“Brussels has come under George Soros’s influence,” he said. The European Union wants to dismantle the border fence, let migrants enter the continent, distribute them among the member states and punish those who resist, the prime minister said.

The events in Brussels are unfolding exactly as Soros outlined, “it is a planned process”, Orbán said.

Hungary, however, is “not a country of fools” and one cannot “pretend as if everything was happening by accident”, he said.

“We have revealed the existence of the Soros plan, and the drafter himself admitted that it exists. We have placed it in the focus of politics,” Orbán said.

Commenting on the “national consultation” survey about the “Soros plan”, he said that if Hungary wants to defend its interests, all decision makers in Brussels should be aware that most Hungarian citizens are taking a stand for national interests.

Concerning the EU’s planned reforms, he said that while plans are being drawn up about the future of the EU, “the Schengen system is crumbling in our hands” and instead of defending the external borders, internal borders are being established. He cited a proposal in line with which member states should have the right to reintroduce border controls within Schengen for three years. Additionally, restrictions are being placed on the free movement of labour, he said.

Orbán called the infringement procedure launched against Hungary because of its law on foreign-financed NGOs a political affair. He added that

the related document had been drafted by the “Brussels bureaucrats” on political orders and they want to use legal means to force a political decision on Hungary.

“It is a subject of public ridicule everywhere in Europe …. A sensible lawyer would not even touch it,” he added.

The law stipulates that “when somebody gets money from abroad, they must admit this. Period. What does that violate?” Orbán asked.

The question is for how long Brussels would put up with “being the subject of public ridicule”, Orbán said. The entire EU is in trouble and European leaders have lost respect because the “Brussels bureaucrats” make such decisions, “insulting and abusing member states with such matters”, he added.

Commenting on the issue of the Central European University founded by Soros, he reiterated that laws must be respected by all, including billionaires, US-Hungarian dual citizens and the organisations they finance. The complicated issue at hand is currently discussed at expert level, he said.

Commenting on the European Parliament’s scrutiny of Hungarian development projects, he said

“a delegation from Brussels made a recent visit” and acknowledged that these projects had indeed been implemented and Hungary followed the line in every respect.

“What’s beyond that” is once again a political attack and “what it is clearly about is that the MEPs must keep themselves busy while we are protecting Europe for them”.

Orbán confirmed press reports that the prime ministers of the Visegrad Four countries would meet EC President Jean-Claude Juncker for “a friendly talk” on the eve of the next EU summit in Brussels, on October 18.

Orbán was also asked to comment on two issues affecting the rights of ethnic Hungarians to education in neighbouring Romania and Ukraine.

He expressed optimism concerning the future of a grammar school in Targu Mures/Marosvásarhely) in central Romania attended mostly by Hungarian students.

“We have made some advance towards keeping the school in operation,” he said, attributing the progress to “good personal relations” established with Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the ruling Social Democrats. “This seems to offer some hope for the future,” he said.

As far as Ukraine’s new education law is concerned, the situation is rather different, Orbán said in connection with new rules passed recently by Kiev which restrict post-primary-level education in minority languages.

The countries affected by the new law are now working to take coordinated action on the matter, he said.

“We do not intend to threaten Ukraine, all we want is to make that country understand that while it is ‘at war’, or more precisely ‘has border disputes’ with Russia, and is economically depressed, it cannot curb the already acquired rights of its minorities, particularly in a situation when it can practically rely only on the EU,” the prime minister added.

Photo: MTI

EC sends reasoned opinion on law on NGOs financed from abroad and higher education law

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The European Commission has taken an infringement procedure launched against Hungary further and sent a reasoned opinion concerning the law affecting NGOs financed from abroad.

The EC said a reasoned opinion has been sent, which represents the second phase of the infringement procedure launched in July.

Hungary has one month to amend the law and bring it into line with European regulations.

Failing to do that, the EC could turn to the European Court of Justice.

The European Commission also instructed on Wednesday Hungary to provide additional clarification regarding amendments to its higher education law in the framework of an infringement procedure.

The EC launched the infringement procedure against Hungary over the amendments which require foreign colleges and universities in Hungary to operate under intergovernmental agreements and to have a campus in the country in which they are based, in April, shortly after parliament passed them.

Critics of the law said it put the operations of Budapest’s Central European University (CEU) under threat.

The commission stepped up the procedure by sending the country a “reasoned opinion” on the matter in July.

Although Hungary replied to the reasoned opinion, the EC asked for further clarification on its concerns about the non-compatibility of the legislation with the EU’s obligations under international trade law.

The EC added that it believes the legislation runs counter to the right of academic freedom, the right to education and the freedom to conduct a business, as set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.

Hungary has two weeks to provide the additional details or the EC may refer the case to the Court of Justice of the EU,

the EC said in a statement.

The CEU announced on Tuesday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with New York’s Bard College to provide educational activities in New York State.

“We hope that this MoU, which does not preclude future agreements with other New York-based institutions, helps to provide the basis for a speedy conclusion to this affair. We await the Hungarian government’s signature of the agreement and parliament’s ratification in order to enable CEU to continue operating in Budapest, which has always been our goal,” CEU said in a statement.

Jobbik: Authority requests the pro-government NGO accounts for donations from state-owned electricity company

István Szávay MEP JOBBIK

The Hungarian data protection authority (NAIH) has declared donations from state-owned energy company MVM to the Civil Cooperation Foundation (CÖKA) to be public funds and requested the NGO to account for them, Jobbik said on Sunday.

As we wrote on May, the opposition Jobbik party has filed a complaint at the chief public prosecutor’s office over a 508 million forint (EUR 1.6m) donation received by the pro-government Civil Unity Forum (CÖF) from state-owned energy company MVM last year.

Jobbik’s István Szávay told a press conference that the party was “sure” the money had been used to fund CÖKA’s anti-opposition billboard campaign showing Jobbik leader Gábor Vona and Democratic Coalition’s Ferenc Gyurcsány with a circus clown.

The donation is more than half of MVM’s annual funds for supporting NGOs and exceeds Jobbik‘s annual budget, Szávay said. If Jobbik is elected to government, such practices will be exposed and eliminated, he vowed. Public donations will flow exclusively to organisations doing valuable work, he said.

Orbán’s cabinet weekly press briefing about Ukraine education crisis, migration quotas and other topics

Anyone who endangers Hungarian interests will find themselves up against the Hungarian state, government office chief János Lázár said at his weekly press briefing on Thursday, in connection with the new Ukrainian education law and Romanian policy affecting a school for ethnic Hungarians in Targu Mures (Marosvásárhely).

Lázár said the “coarse violation of Hungarian minority rights” was “unacceptable and shameful”. He called on the Ukrainian president not to sign the law, adding that the law was “a stab in the back”.

“Ukraine will lose a friend,” he said.

The government office chief also said Hungary would withhold its support for Romania’s membership of the OECD unless it sought a satisfactory conclusion to the issue of the Hungarian school in Targu Mures.

Hungary has also expressed its objection to Croatia’s OECD membership,

saying that the country has “harmed Hungarian economic interests”, citing the dispute between the two countries over Croatian oil and gas company INA and Hungarian peer MOL.

Meanwhile, on the subject of pensions paid to high-ranking dignitaries of the Communist regime, Lázár said the government was ready to examine the issue and conduct an investigation omitted in 1990.

Asked about remarks critical of the government by former ombudsman László Majtényi, who heads a prominent NGO, Lázár said NGOs are free to express their opinions, and he added that public life in Hungary was blooming without any hindrance.

Majtényi has accused the government and ruling parties of conducting a smear campaign against NGOs with the intention of intimidating them.

It is easy to blame the opposition parties’ failures on the government in election season, Lázár said. “But the opposition looks in the mirror, sees something appalling and smashes the mirror instead of taking a shave”, he said.

Challenged that opposition referendum bids “seem to go awry all the time”, Lázár said that the opposite was true.

Of opposition initiatives, many reached their goals, he said. Budapest is not hosting the Olympics, the shops are open on Sundays, and parliament has just raised the statute of limitations on corruption charges, just as the opposition proposed, he said. “They should be glad to be able to assert themselves, even in opposition,” he said.

Lázár dismissed a report about plans that the government would take over southern Hungarian city Pécs’s debts in exchange for ownership of the airport Pécs-Pogány,

which then would let to Russian energy giant Rosatom. No property swaps were discussed at the meeting, he said.

In connection with his personal plans, Lázár said that if it depended on him alone then he would work in his constituency between 2018 and 2022 and that he achieve more there than in government. He said, however, he was not without long-term ambitions. “Where there’s a job to do there are ambitions, but it is hard to sit on two horses at once.”

Speaking of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s itinerary in the near future, Lázár said Orbán is travelling to Poland on Friday and then to Vietnam and Singapore. Lázár said there will be no government meeting next week.

Human resources minister lauds work of office against persecution of Christians

The Hungarian government’s deputy state secretariat for aiding persecuted Christians has succeeded in drawing greater international attention to the issue of the persecution of Christians around the world, the human resources minister said in an interview to the Friday edition of the daily Magyar Idők. 

The office has been contacted by a number of persecuted churches, asking for help in keeping their age-old communities together, Zoltán Balog told the paper.

It was in response to these calls that the government decided to fund six months’ worth of medicine supplies to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Erbil, in northern Iraq, and selected a village that it will help rebuild in its entirety, the minister noted.

The government has also set up a state fund that will support the education of young Middle Easterners and Africans in Hungary, Balog said.

“Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world. And in Europe, which to an extent is the birthplace of Christianity, it has been forced on the defensive,” the minister said. Christianity “is on the receiving end of increasingly fierce administrative and legal attacks by a growing number of people …” he added.

On another subject, the minister said the 16th annual Civic Picnic in Kötcse, in southwestern Hungary, which he will host over the weekend, will focus on family policy matters and the protection of Christian values.

Responding to the paper’s suggestion that the Hungarian government had clashed with even conservative intellectuals regarding the matter of the status of Budapest’s Central European University (CEU), Balog said it had become clear over the past months that the government’s goal is to ensure a level playing field among higher education institutions. “It is clear that there is no country in the European Union in which the CEU could operate with the privileges it has enjoyed in Hungary,” he said.

Balog also defended the NGO transparency law, saying that it was not in violation of the principles of the rule of law, but rather hurts “the interests of Soros organisations which seek to interfere in Hungary’s internal affairs … through manipulative campaigns and other methods”.

“The Kötcse community, made up of about 500 people from the worlds of business, culture, academia, education and the church, have supported us through thick and thin,” the minister said. “They get upset for us, not with us.”

Photo: MTI