Hungarian NGOs prepare for government crackdown
Viktor Orban's government has denounced NGOs funded by George Soros for trying to "illegitimately" influence political life. The groups are gearing up for an assault from politicians who once saw them quite differently.
George Soros, the US-Hungarian billionaire, was once hailed as a liberator in Hungary. Having aided the fall of communism by providing photocopiers for liberal opposition samizdat publications, he went on to found the prestigious Central European University in his native Budapest and made the city a regional hub for his liberal Open Society Foundations (OSF) grant-making network, which funds over 60 NGOs in Hungary.
But as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's vision of illiberal democracy threatens to go global, Soros, 86, has been declared persona non grata in Hungary, and his "open society" ideals are under siege. In mid-January Orban's Fidesz party deputy singled out three Soros-funded NGOs - the human rights organization the Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union TASZ and anti-corruption body Transparency International - to be "swept out." The subject has been placed on the legislative agenda for the spring.
http://www.dw.com/en/hungarian-ngos-prepare-for-government-crackdown/a-37213758
