Crackdown prompts Soros's Open Society to quit Budapest

Grantmaking body acts after civil society restrictions planned by re-elected PM Viktor Orbán

Daniel Nolan in Budapest
Fri 20 Apr 2018 14.31 BST

George Soros’s Open Society Foundations has revealed plans to close its Budapest office ahead of a crackdown on civil society by the right-wing government of the re-elected Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán.

Employees were told on Thursday that the organisation, which distributes grants to local civil society groups, will close or drastically reduce operations at its office in the Hungarian capital in July and relocate to Berlin by August, the Guardian learned from multiple sources.

“You might understand if I don’t cry my eyes out,” Orbán said in his regular radio interview on Friday. Since his Fidesz party won a two-thirds majority in parliament this month, Orbán has claimed a political mandate to push ahead with a new law targeting NGOs with foreign funding.

The Open Society Foundation, founded by the billionaire philanthropist, said in a statement on Friday it was “closely watching developments around draft legislation that would dramatically restrict the activities of civil society in Hungary”. Its office in Budapest employs about 100 staff and oversees funding to other central and eastern European countries.

The proposed “stop Soros” law, which parliament will discuss next week, would enforce a 25% tax on foreign donations to NGOs that back migration to Hungary and allows the interior ministry to reject groups that work on migration-related issues to on a national security basis after vetting by security agencies.

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