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Hungarian PM Attacks Soros After Reelection Win

<p>For years&comma;&nbsp&semi;Hungarian-American billionaire investor George Soros has disrupted politics in Eastern Europe by supporting liberal organizations&period;&nbsp&semi;Hungary&rsquo&semi;s ruling party wants him to stop&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hours after a sweeping reelection victory on Sunday&comma; Hungary&rsquo&semi;s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban unveiled the <em>Stop Soros<&sol;em> initiative &&num;8211&semi; a bill aimed to stop NGOs&comma; think tanks&comma; and other institutions that are working against his administration&rsquo&semi;s agenda and on behalf of the immigrants he wants to keep out&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Orban has portrayed George Soros as a sort of evil puppetmaster seeking to flood Hungary with immigrants&period; During his reelection campaign&comma; Orban vowed to&nbsp&semi;enact &ldquo&semi;moral&comma; political&comma; and legal revenge&rdquo&semi; on&nbsp&semi;Soros&&num;8217&semi;s allies in Hungary and claimed to have a list of 2&comma;000 individuals working for him&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Orban insists the opposition is working with Soros&comma; the UN&comma; and the EU to flood Hungary with immigrants and has warned that the presence of migrants would threaten Hungary&&num;8217&semi;s Christian identity&comma;&nbsp&semi;increase the risk of terrorism&comma; halt the nation&rsquo&semi;s economic development&comma; and threaten the safety of women and girls&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;If the dam bursts&comma; if the borders are opened&comma; if immigrants set foot in Hungary&comma; there will be no going back&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Orban Friday&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Orban Administration has been on the offense against NGOs for some time now&comma; and his party has been talking about the&nbsp&semi;<em>Stop Soros<&sol;em> bill since February&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As it stands&comma; the <em>Stop Soros<&sol;em> bill would impose a 25&percnt; tax on all foreign donations to nonprofits that work with migrants and enable the interior minister to block any activity he considers a a &ldquo&semi;national security risk&period;&rdquo&semi; The law would also force NGOs working with asylum seekers to obtain a government permit and prohibit advocacy groups from operating within 5 miles of&nbsp&semi;the country&rsquo&semi;s borders&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With a super majority in parliament&comma; Orban&&num;8217&semi;s Fidesz party will have no problem passing the bill when lawmakers reconvene next month&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;That means some NGOs will be demolished in a couple of months&comma;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;argues opposition activist Marton Gulyas&period; &ldquo&semi;They have to be prepared for government threats&comma; raids&comma; and I don&rsquo&semi;t know what else&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One group at risk is the Hungarian Helsinki Committee&comma; a human rights watchdog that helps asylum-seekers&period; The group&comma; which receives support from George Soros&comma; is frequently cited as one of the &ldquo&semi;foreign agents&rdquo&semi; working against the government&rsquo&semi;s interests&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;We can see an alarmingly fast crackdown on civil society&comma; or independent voices&comma; in Hungary&comma;&rdquo&semi; argues co-chair Marta Pardavi&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Helsinki Committee has vowed not to let Orban&rsquo&semi;s reelection stop it from helping asylum-seekers&period; &ldquo&semi;&lbrack;Fidesz&rsqb; considers its power interests more important than the values of the state of law and democracy&comma; human rights&comma; and the Constitution&comma;&rdquo&semi; said the group&period;&nbsp&semi;&ldquo&semi;Our association will continue its activities for as long as people in dire straits ask us for help&period; We are the same age as Hungarian democracy&comma; established in 1989&comma; of which there is less and less left&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8212&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Orban on his victory and promised that Germany would remain a &ldquo&semi;reliable partner&rdquo&semi; with Budapest despite their differences&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Editor&&num;8217&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong> Perhaps this is the beginning of a wakeup call for countries where Soros is attempting to interfere&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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