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Central Europe
June 1, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
Hungarian government files 'Stop Soros' bill to parliament
bne IntelliNews
The Hungarian government filed the draft pack- age of bills called "Stop Soros" to parliament on May 29. The bills criminalise the organisation of illegal migration, making it punishable by impris- onment. The cabinet also submitted amendments to the Constitution aimed at creating a legal basis for refusing to accept migrants under the EU's relocation scheme.
The government had submitted the legislation to parliament before the April general election but lacked the supermajority to pass the draft. After its landslide election victory, Fidesz politicians are referring to their strong electoral mandate to step up against organisations they deem to promote migration.
The bill is targeted at what the government claims to be a campaign by the Hungarian-born Ameri- can financier George Soros to undermine the country's security by promoting mass immigra- tion. The legislation, which has received criticism from foreign governments and NGOs, is seen as further eroding the civilian control of Viktor Or- ban's government, which has the required two- thirds majority to pass the controversial legisla- tion.
The bill defines the promotion of illegal migra- tion as an organised activity which illegally helps a person not in danger of persecution to submit an asylum request or to obtain a title of residence. People found guilty of financially supporting il- legal migration face criminal prosecution and one-year of imprisonment.
Illegal activities also include surveilling the bor- der and soliciting, collecting or distributing data with a view to promoting illegal migration. Hence handing out leaflets may also constitute a viola- tion of the law. Setting up a network to organ-
ise illegal migration is also a punishable offence. Soros' Open Society Foundations (OSF) announced the closure of its Budapest office on May 15 after 24 years in Hungary as its operations came under mounting pressure; they will relocate to Berlin. "The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tac- tics unprecedented in the history of the European Union," said OSF president Patrick Gaspard at the time.
The fate of the Central European University found- ed by Soros in Budapest is still unresolved as the Hungarian government has failed to ink an agree- ment with the State University of New York that has been on the table since September 2017.
The right-wing government has waged a ruthless campaign against Soros, not just in the recent election campaign but since the start of the mi- gration crisis. Orban has demonised the philan- thropist liberal Soros – seen as the illiberal Hun- garian prime minister’s public enemy no. 1, which has gained him immense popularity and a third supermajority victory in April.
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has called on Hungary to withdraw the package, say- ing it would deprive asylum seekers of critical aid and services, and "further inflame tense public discourse and rising xenophobic attitudes".
In a press release, the UNHCR said it was "par- ticularly concerned that the government is target- ing those who, in a purely humanitarian role, help people who are seeking asylum". It called on the government "to halt any measures that would fur- ther increase the vulnerability of people who are simply looking for a safe haven".