Start: Project Syndicate: “Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s opinion piece does not meet our standards”

Viktor Orbán published an article entitled “Europe cannot surrender to the Soros Network” on his own website, which he also ran on Facebook. On the community page, the prime minister claimed that he posted here because the script was “disabled” by Project Syndicate, meaning he couldn’t appear with them.

Project Syndicate is an international media organization that publishes commentary and analysis. György Soros’s article on the EU budget vetoes in Hungary and Poland was published here last week, Viktor Orbán wanted to reply, having already spent most of his radio interview last Friday.

As he did not provide evidence for the Prime Minister’s claim, we asked the Project’s Trade Union International Office whether Viktor Orbán’s article had actually been banned and, if so, what was the reason.

In their response, they wrote that, although opinions of heads of state and government are often expressed, the Hungarian prime minister’s article did not meet the requirements they expected.

“As a leading source of opinion pieces and economic, political and social analysis for the past 25 years, Project Syndicate regularly publishes eminent scholars, business leaders, civic activists, political leaders and decision makers from around the world, including many heads of state. and government.

When we decide whether to accept unsolicited submissions, our primary responsibility is to promote public debate. In this case, we come to the conclusion that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s opinion does not meet our standards ”.

– wrote to hvg.hu. The Project Syndicate page also lists the requirements for which it publishes its writing. In addition to the formal requirements (eg photos, footnotes), it states quite precisely: “The ideal Project Syndicate commentary is an intellectual argument or strategic policy proposal designed to inform readers and promote discussion public. Project Syndicate will not consider articles that do not meet or undermine this objective. “

But what was it about?

Orbán eventually published his reply article, which was not blocked but not accepted due to content requirements, on his own website in Hungarian, German and English. He opened the article saying: “Many believe that the prime minister of a country should not argue with George Soros.”

They argue that Soros is an economic criminal because he made his money by speculating, destroying millions of people and even blackmailing entire national economies. Just as governments cannot negotiate with terrorists, prime ministers can also argue with economic criminals ”.

However, he is forced to do so because Soros “in his article published in the Syndicate Project” gave open orders to the leaders of the European Union. In it, he instructs them to severely punish those member states that do not want to join a unifying European empire under the banner of a global and open society. “

Then the Prime Minister took a historical look and said that the European Union was in trouble – it had been hit by a pandemic, but had not even recovered from its previous crises, the global economic and migration crisis, so solidarity is needed. . According to him, Soros proposes to punish each other.

Orbán sees the Soros network – including politicians, journalists, judges, bureaucrats, political agitators disguised as civilians – “now does not shy away from open intervention”, “tunes the peoples of Europe to each other” and his enemies cannot to settle, ” it expires, humiliates, intimidates, destroys the network with its formidable weapon, the left-wing media background ”.

According to the Prime Minister, the institutional system that Soros wants to create “under the auspices of an open society wants to force a unified way of thinking, a unified culture, a unified social model in the free and independent nations of Europe” and deprive each nation of their own destiny.

He mentioned that “we in the eastern part of the Union know very well what it means to be free. The history of the nations of Central Europe has been an incessant struggle for freedom against the great empires ”, and we do not ask for more intimidation, material and moral destruction, physical and spiritual abuse. According to him, “Western leaders who have lived their entire lives in a world of inherited freedom and rule of law should now listen to those who have fought for freedom.”

In conclusion, he said: “The fight for and against the new Brussels Empire has not yet been decided. Brussels appears to be falling, but many nation-states are still holding out. If we want to preserve our freedom, Europe must not succumb to the Soros network. “

Soros: Orbán built a kleptocratic system

György Soros, on the other hand, wrote that Hungary and Poland reject the European Union’s rule of law even though their countries are among the top recipients of EU aid.

“They are aware that the rule of law is being violated in an unprecedented way and they do not have in mind to pay the consequences,” he wrote.

According to the businessman, for Orban and, to some extent, the de facto leader of Poland, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the rule of law is not an abstract concept, but a barrier to personal and political corruption. And the current veto is a desperate attempt, all the more so since the conditionality of the rule of law will apply even if the two countries veto the adoption of the new budget.

“I am a committed believer in the EU as a model for an open society based on the rule of law. As a Hungarian of Jewish descent, I am especially concerned about the situation in Hungary, where I have been present with my charitable actions for more than thirty years, ”writes Soros, who said that Orbán had built a kleptocratic system to steal his country. According to the businessman, it is difficult to assess the fate of Orbán’s family and friends, but the truth is that many of them have become extremely wealthy. And the prime minister is now using the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic to amend the constitution and electoral law to fight for a lifetime prime minister presidency by constitutional means.

This is a tragedy for the Hungarian people, said Soros, who also gave examples. He believed the opposition was “boldly trying” to compete with Orbán by putting together common lists for the 2022 elections, but it worsened his chances that “Orbán could change the rules at any time, as he has done countless times so far.” Orbán now plans to amend the suffrage law while the epidemic is rampant, there is a curfew in Budapest and soldiers patrol the streets, he wrote. Furthermore, Orbán has almost complete power in the countryside, controls information for the rural population, and in many settlements secret suffrage is not respected. “It is practically impossible for the opposition to win.”

According to Soros, only the EU can help the situation, for example by allocating EU funds to local governments where democracy still works, as opposed to the national level. The EU cannot afford to compromise on the rule of law. According to the Hungarian businessman, how the EU reacts to resistance from the Hungarian and Polish governments will also determine whether it can survive with its core values ​​of promoting an open society.