National consultation on ‘Soros Plan’ extended
Wikimedia Commons/Mstyslav Chernov -- Syrian refugees strike in front of Budapest Keleti railway station. Refugee crisis. Budapest, Hungary, Central Europe, 4 September 2015.
The government is extending the deadline for returning questionnaires in the latest “national consultation” on points of what it has routinely described as the “Soros Plan,” allegedly driven by the Hungarian-born financier George Soros, to forcibly relocate refugees around Europe. The new deadline is December 1.
Syrian refugees at Budapestʼs Keleti railway station in September 2015 (photo: Wikimedia Commons/Mstyslav Chernov).
According to a statement published on the Hungarian governmentʼs website, the deadline of the national consultation has been extended because “questionnaires are still being returned in huge numbers.” In addition, the statement says, the European Parliament has decided that “the resettlement program is now due to be launched,” therefore the government wishes “to give everyone the opportunity to also voice their opinions on the subject within the framework of the National Consultation.” The statement makes no reference to George Soros or his alleged plan.
Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér participated last week in a hearing of Parliamentʼs national security committee. Asked by opposition MPs if George Soros presents a national security risk to Hungary, Pintér could not present evidence supporting this idea, online news portal index.hu reported.
During a public event prior to the committee hearing, index.hu also asked Pintér if Soros represents a danger to Hungary.
“I do not know if György Soros is a danger, but the ideas expressed by him are not in line with those of Hungary and Hungarian laws. An open society, a society without borders is not accepted at the moment. It is futuristic,” the minister was quoted as saying.
Soros himself last week rebuffed all statements by the Hungarian government referring to the plan he is alleged to have designed to bring millions of migrants into Europe. In an interview with the Financial Times, he accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of casting him as an “external enemy” in an attempt to mislead voters and cling to power.
“It’s a tragedy for Hungary that its government seeks to stay in power through hate-mongering and misleading the population,” Soros said in the telephone interview with the FT.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stepped up the war on words last Wednesday in a response to Sorosʼs criticisms.
“It is worth looking at to what extent George Soros has funded pro-immigration NGOs and with what pomp he has been received in Brussels,” said Szijjártó. “Hungary would not be safe today if George Soros’s interests were being enforced,” he added.
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