Soros’ Open Society Foundation Closes Operations In Hungary Under Pressure From Orban
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Tue, 05/15/2018
After closing its Budapest office last month, Open Society, the purportedly philanthropic organization created to push a liberal, globalist political agenda espoused by billionaire investor George Soros, said Tuesday that it has officially pulled out of Hungary after accusing Prime Minister Viktor Orban of “repressing civil society,” according to the WSJ.
“Faced with an increasingly repressive political and legal environment in Hungary, the Open Society Foundations are moving their Budapest-based international operations and staff to the German capital, Berlin,” the group confirmed on Tuesday.
Patrick Gaspard, the president of the Open Society Foundations, lashed out at Hungary’s government, accusing it of “denigrating and misrepresenting our work,” while repressing civil society “for the sake of political gain.”
Soros attributed his decision to leave Hungary, the country where he was born, to the ruling Fidesz party’s push to pass a bill known as the “Stop Soros” plan. The bill would place new restrictions on non-governmental organizations found to be meddling in the country’s political affairs. The billionaire investor has criticized the law as anti-Semitic.
Open Society previously said it will move its Hungary operations to Berlin.
Should the bill become law, it would require all NGOs which “support illegal immigration” to be register with the government, while any NGO that receives funding from abroad would need to pay a 25% tax. It would also force foreign citizens and Hungarian nationals who support illegal immigration to be subject to a restraining order which would require them to stay away from the country’s border. “If Soros is found to have engaged in such activity, meaning he organizes illegal immigration, then the rules will apply to him,” government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said in February.
When OS first announced their withdrawal from Budapest last month, Prime Minister Orban responded with derision: “You might understand if I don’t cry my eyes out.”
The Rest…HERE
