“The European Union is financing political activists to interfere in the domestic affairs of member states and to launch attacks against governments that are critical of Brussels and its migration policy, gender ideology or warmongering rhetoric,” Tamás Deutsch, member of the European Parliament for the governing Hungarian Fidesz party, declared in a recent interview with The European Conservative.
Deutsch’s comments can be interpreted in light of a September 7 report from Hungarian conservative daily Magyar Nemzet indicating that millions of euros of EU money have been granted to groups opposing the current conservative Hungarian government under Viktor Orbán. The same report stated that groups associated with Hungarian-born U.S. billionaire George Soros have been bankrolled by around two-thirds of such funds.
Some of the money hailed from the European Commission’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values program (CERV), which hopes “to protect and promote Union rights and values as enshrined in the EU Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It will contribute to sustain and further develop open, rights-based, democratic, equal and inclusive societies based on the rule of law.”
The Ökotárs Alapítvány (Hungarian Environmental Partnership Foundation) obtained a significant 3.4 million euros “to enable them to be better prepared to protect and promote Union values, including democracy, rule of law and human rights.”
In addition, Magyar Helsinki Bizottság (Hungarian Helsinki Committee) and Társaság a Szabadságjogokért (Hungarian Civil Liberties Union), both of which oppose Orbán’s government, were granted 119,000 and 68,000 euros respectively to increase the number of Hungarian lawyers “equipped and motivated to bring forward domestic and European strategic litigation based on the EU Charter [of Fundamental Rights].”
Furthermore, LGBTQ+ advocacy group Háttér Társaság (Háttér Society) received 73,000 euros for the purpose of “decreasing discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in the field[s] of education, healthcare, social services and psychological support.”
Similarly, one of the largest groups representing Hungarian Jews, Magyarországi Zsidó Hitközségek Szövetsége, was given 74,000 euros “to decrease the existing, significant knowledge deficit in Hungarian and other societies regarding the facts of the Holocaust and thus to fight Holocaust denial and distortion,” among other goals.
Pro-Orbán news channel Hír TV posited that Hungarian media connected to George Soros have also been responsible for conducting a malicious campaign against Csaba Böjte, an ethnic Hungarian Franciscan monk and founder of the Saint Francis Foundation in Transylvania, Romania, which has supplied food, housing, and education to hundreds of children living in poor conditions. Leftist publications Mérce and Átlátszó Erdély obtained 14,000 euros from Journalism Fund, a group backed by Soros-linked Open Society Foundations (OSF), to propagate accounts about a supposed “pedophile scandal” in one of the orphanages.
Amnesty International Hungary and leftist think tanks Republikon Intézet and Political Capital are other Hungarian groups that have profited from anti-Orbán EU programs.
EU institutions and Western leftist governments have constantly slammed Hungary for not bowing to European “values” and rule-of-law standards.
In power since 2010, the Orbán-led Fidesz party has maintained that such leftist criticisms are ideology-based, and that leftists are penalizing Hungary for not kowtowing to Western propaganda on mass migration and LGBTQ issues. Moreover, since the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, Hungary, unlike the rest of the EU, has not been in favor of deploying military aid to Ukraine.
Additionally, Western politicians have long blasted the Hungarian government for being antisemitic, despite studies such as one by Tel Aviv University showing that Hungary is one of the safest European countries for Jews.
Magyar Nemzet also pointed out the ironic reality that although the EU was keen on pouring funds into groups opposed to the current Hungarian government, Hungary is the only EU member state besides Poland that has not obtained EU pandemic recovery funds from the European Commission.
In light of the persistent EU withholding of Hungary’s recovery funds, Fidesz politician Deutsch said:
They talk about withholding EU funds from countries that are violating fundamental European values, when in fact the Brussels bureaucracy is abusing its power to pursue its own political agenda, blackmailing and exerting pressure on states and governments whose steps it doesn’t agree with. EU taxpayers’ money is being used to finance political activists that are taking action against democratically elected governments. It’s simply astonishing.
Notwithstanding the pro-Soros OSF’s declaration to considerably reduce its activities in EU countries, communications director of Fidesz István Hollik told public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió on September 10 that the “Soros network” “wants to continue being active in Eastern Europe.”
Owing to friendly ties with the “Brussels bureaucrats,” the OSF has succeeded in getting Brussels to bankroll “these attempts of interference.” Alluding to the 2024 European Parliament elections, the politician admitted that “the reality is that Brussels is pre-financing the Hungarian Left’s campaign.”
In August this year, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk promised to take legal action against nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) financed by Soros over their reported efforts to clamp down on free speech.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk responded to an article by journalist Ben Scallan, who reported that NGOs backed by the OSF have been promoting a “censorship agenda” in Ireland and Scotland that entails police searches of homes and personal electronic devices.
In his piece, Scallan refuted Irish leaders’ allegations that hate-based crimes in the country have been escalating. The journalist noted that local police and authorities have spurred citizens to report this type of misconduct, causing a rise in the statistics, but not the actual number of crimes, claiming such measures also incited a change in the perception of what could be deemed hateful. He stated that such moves would provide Irish leaders with an excuse to implement stricter laws that limit free speech.
“Exactly. X will be filing legal action to stop this. Can’t wait for discovery to start!” Musk posted, alluding to the NGOs’ supposed moves to restrict free speech.
Musk — who once labeled himself a “free speech absolutist” — had hitherto likened Soros to supervillain mutant Magneto from Marvel Comics’ X-Men series, who, like Soros, was a Holocaust survivor.
When questioned by journalist Brian Krassenstein, who claimed that the Hungarian-American businessman was a frequent conservative target as some people oppose Soros’ “good intentions” because “they disagree with his political affiliations,” Musk replied:
You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.
Soros has been prominent for his leftist ideologies as well as his immense financial support for pro-immigration activism. A study by the Media Research Center revealed Soros to have financial connections to over 250 media outlets worldwide, asserting that such influence helps protect him from backlash and allows him to influence public opinion, as well as to tout environmental extremism and “LGBT fanaticism.”
Musk’s remarks on Soros came after financial documents of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosed that the Soros Fund Management hedge-fund group had sold the entirety of its shares in Musk’s electric-vehicle manufacturer Tesla in late March.
Documents divulged that Soros’ group had about 132,000 Tesla shares on its books at the end of 2022, but dumped its entire stake in the first months of 2023, after stock increased by 68 percent from January to March.
