Orban seeks ‘ Stop Soros’ laws in Hungary
■ Re- elected PM pledges package of bills to target civil society
Budapest, April 10: Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, has pledged to push through a controversial package of bills targeting civil society, described by his government as the “Stop Soros” package, reported the Guardian.
Mr Orban said that his Fidesz party’s landslide victory in Sunday’s Parliamentary elections had given the government perhaps the strongest mandate in modern Hungarian history.
“The reason we submitted this package before the elections is in order to allow the Hungarian voters to cast their vote knowing our intention on this. This has happened and we believe we are mandated by this election to pass this law.”
Among other things, the proposed laws will require NGOs that work on migration- related issues to seek registration from the interior ministry. They could be rejected on a national security basis after vetting by security agencies. Any foreign funding for migrationrelated activities will be subjected to a 25% tax.
Orbán, who will now serve a third consecutive term as Prime Minister, portrayed himself on the campaign trail as the defender of a white, Christian Hungary at risk from refugees and migrants, and under attack from George Soros, the financier and philanthropist of JewishHungarian origin.
The campaign was almost exclusively focused on migration, and on Tuesday Mr Orban said the result of the elections vindicated this choice.
“The Hungarian voters have designated the most important topics: immigration and the topic of national security. Hungarians have decided they want to be the only ones who will decide who can live in Hungary.”
Mr Orbán said the government had not yet discussed the specific issue of Soros’s Budapest- based Central European University, which announced on Monday an agreement to open a satellite campus in Vienna.
The Prime Minister also said he planned to build on diplomatic ties with Poland and the German region of Bavaria following their direct support for his re- election.
Orban refused to comment on a sharply critical preliminary report on the Hungarian elections released on Monday by international monitors, which referred to “intimidating and xenophobic rhetoric and media bias” during the campaign.