The European Commission has been threatening to take legal action against the Eastern European government of Hungary for its policy against non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, that are funded from abroad, for some time now. Brussels acted today and initiated legal action against the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The Commission also took aim at a law targeting a Soros-funded university in Budapest.
The EU declared the NGO law would prevent organizations “from raising funds and would restrict their ability to carry out their work,” as infringement proceedings moved forward against Hungary.
For its part, the Hungarian Justice Ministry State Secretary Pal Volner responded, “The government is ready to face infringement proceedings with relation to the NGO Act…These are organizations that want to weaken Hungary’s defense capabilities in the fight against illegal immigration.”
“Civil society is the very fabric of our democratic societies and therefore should not be unduly restricted in its work,” EU Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said. “We have studied the new law on NGOs carefully and have come to the conclusion that it does not comply with EU law,” reported Associated Press.
“We, CEU and Fidesz, peacefully coexisted side by side in the past years, the changes came about when George Soros announced a program about having to open Europe’s borders and call in a million immigrants a year,” said Orban’s chief of staff, Janos Lazar.
