The media establishment is in an uproar over Hungary’s ‘Stop Soros’ legislative package which could see NGOs assisting illegal migration taxed to provide funds for border protection.
The proposed bill will not ban pro-open borders NGOs from operating outright, but will require so-called ‘civil society’ groups which “sponsor, organise or otherwise support a third-country national’s entry or stay in Hungary via a safe third country in order to ensure international protection” to seek the interior minister’s approval to operate — which he will be able to deny if the group’s activities are deemed a threat to national security.
Foreign donations supplied by figures such as billionaire financier George Soros will be subject to a 25 per cent tax. Funds raised will be used to improve border security and mitigate the overwhelming of globalist outfits such as Soros’s Open Society Foundations which recently received a cash injection of $18 billion (£12.8 billion) — more than Hungary raises in income tax revenue in a year.
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Open Society Foundations alleged the bill’s purpose was to “criminalise civil society”.
Amnesty International — which recently received a €137,000 ($172,000/£122,000) donation from Soros to campaign for abortion in the Republic of Ireland, which the Irish authorities later deemed illegal — also attacked the Hungarians, describing the bill as a “deeply disturbing and unjustified assault on civil society”.
Mainstream media outlets were quick to pile in, with the left-wing Independent website alleging Soros was “the target of a state-backed national hate campaign because of his funding of liberal projects”.
EUobserver claimed the bill would “paralyse” NGOs dealing with migration, while The Week suggested Hungary had “drifted towards authoritarian government”.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has refused to be cowed, however, insisting Hungarian democracy should not be unduly influenced by an excess of foreign money or pressure from the European Union — which is attempting to undo previous reforms requiring NGOs to declare large foreign donations prominently in the interests of financial transparency.
“A government that can be blackmailed will give up national independence and transform Hungary into an immigrant country,” he told a party conference on Wednesday.
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