Hungary submits anti-immigration 'Stop
Soros' bill to parliament
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[February 14, 2018]
By Krisztina Than
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's nationalist
government introduced legislation that would empower the interior
minister to ban non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that support
migration and pose a "national security risk".
The bill, submitted to parliament late on Tuesday, is a key part of
Prime Minister Viktor Orban's anti-immigration campaign targeting U.S.
financier George Soros whose philanthropy aims to bolster liberal and
open-border values in eastern Europe.
The government says the bill, which would also impose a 25 percent tax
on foreign donations to NGOs that back migration in Hungary, is meant to
deter illegal immigration Orban says is eroding European stability and
has been stoked in part by Soros.
Hungary and Poland are both under nationalist governments that have
clashed with the European Union leadership in Brussels over their
perceived authoritarian drift deviating from EU standards on democracy
and rule of law.
But Orban's message, championing conservative Christian beliefs and
rejecting multiculturalism, has gone down well with Hungarian voters and
his Fidesz party is expected to secure a third straight term in a
general election due on April 8.
The bill says that NGOs that "sponsor, organize or support the entry or
stay of third-country citizens on Hungarian territory via a safe third
country to extend international protection ... qualify as organizations
supporting migration".
Such activity - including campaigning, advocacy, recruiting volunteers,
producing information booklets - would have to be approved by the
interior minister, who could deny permission if he saw a "national
security risk".
If an NGO continued with such activity, Hungarian prosecutors could act
to withdraw the NGO's tax number, essentially paralyzing them, slap them
with heavy fines and ultimately dissolve them.
TAX BITE
Organizations that support migration will have to pay tax on the foreign
funding or assets they receive, the bill says, with a possible exemption
on funding that serves humanitarian goals.
Activists who organize or support migration could also face restraining
orders preventing them from approaching the EU's external borders in
Hungary.
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A government billboard is seen in Budapest, Hungary, February 14,
2018. A billboard reads: 'Soros wants to transplant millions from
Africa and the Middle East'. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
Orban has been embroiled in an escalating "Stop Soros" feud with the
87-year-old Hungarian-born Jew, waging a billboard and media
campaign asserting that he would "settle millions from Africa and
the Middle East".
Soros has rejected the campaign against him as "distortions and
lies" meant to create a false external enemy.
Pro-government media reported earlier that the new legislation could
lead to a ban on Soros, who has U.S. and Hungarian citizenship,
entering the country.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, an NGO that has been providing
support for the legal and human rights of various groups including
asylum seekers and prisoners since 1994, said the bill was
unacceptable and served political goals.
"(Its goal) is to stigmatize certain civil organizations that the
government does not like... and to distance them from society, and
in the end make their operation impossible," the committee, which
receives a major chunk of its funding from Soros, said in a
statement.
Poland, Hungary and other ex-communist eastern member states of the
EU have all pushed a strong anti-immigrant stance, even though the
number of asylum seekers who want to stay in these countries are
very few compared to western European countries.
Last year, the Orban government introduced a measure requiring NGOs
that get money from abroad to register with the state, raising alarm
in the EU and United States.
The European Commission said last year it was taking Budapest to the
EU's top court over its NGO laws as well as a higher education law
that targets the Central European University in Budapest founded by
Soros.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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