Orbán targeting US billionaire Soros again

After a country-wide billboard campaign against the Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros in the summer, the Hungarian government is now planning a referendum targeting a scheme by Soros that purportedly poses a threat to Hungarian culture and society. Hungarian commentators call on the opposition to take action.

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Népszava (HU) /

Opposition needs to stop Fidesz

Hungary will face hard times unless the opposition gets its act together quickly and puts a stop to Orbán's manipulative policies, Népszava warns:

“If the ruling party Fidesz remains in power next year it will ruthlessly bring to conclusion what it has begun. ... If the democratically minded, pro-European opposition doesn't form a strong bloc capable of governing the country and oppose Fidesz and its countless machinations the current regime will put its ludicrous dreams into practice. In other words, while the Orbán regime develops into a full Eastern-style autocracy the country would go to the dogs and fall prey to dictatorial ambitions.”

Magyar Nemzet (HU) /

Critics portrayed as traitors

The absurd campaign against George Soros has now lashed out at the Hungarian EU Commissioner Tibor Navracsics despite his strong ties to the government, Magzar Nemzet comments:

“Under the pretext of the explosive topic of immigration, the campaign led by the government camp has clearly gone beyond all the limits. Orbán and his government have managed to divert society's attention from the real problems of daily coexistence and smother all reasonable discourse. ... Now even EU Commissioner Tibor Navracsics has been taken to task. Navracsics had the temerity to say that notwithstanding the referendum and the government's campaign he still hasn't seen any evidence of a Soros plan in Brussels - after which Orbán's deputy prime minister Zsolt Semjén was compelled to use harsh words to bring him back into line.”

Magyar Nemzet (HU) /

Dirty propaganda war against Soros

Instead of encouraging a reasonable debate about migration and immigration the Orbán government is fanning fear and hatred to create a skewed image of the reality, Magyar Nemzet complains:

“The propaganda of fear and hate is in full swing. Even those who have been able to elude it so far are now no longer immune because it reaches them by letter. The recipe is all too familiar: take a couple of half-truths - in this case isolated sentences uttered by Soros -, tear them from their context, twist their meaning, and - this is very important - repeat them endlessly. In that way they're sure to become lodged in people's minds. ... The worst thing in all of this is that the aggressive propaganda makes any reasonable discussion about a real and pressing problem impossible.”

168 óra (HU) /

Nothing but demonisation

Hungary's ruling party Fidesz uses Soros as a bogeyman for its lying propaganda, writes 168 óra:

“Most of the content of the questionnaire is malicious and untrue. It claims that Soros wanted to dismantle the border fence to remove all obstacles for refugees. The truth is that Soros is an advocate of strong border protection. In another question it says that Soros is pushing for the redistribution of refugees. Everyone knows by now that Soros is against refugee quotas. This propaganda text disguised as a questionnaire suggests the apocalyptic vision of Soros planning the downfall of European culture. ... The sole goal of the government propaganda is to demonise. It doesn't even need the real Soros to do that. A fictitious phantom is enough.”