„SOROSAID” - Part 2

“SOROSAID”: OPEN SOCIETY IS BANKROLLING ANTI-GOVERNMENT FORCES IN HUNGARY

Between 2016 and 2023, George Soros spent $89.5 million (equaling approximately HUF 34.5 billion) to fund organizations based in Hungary. In the year prior to the pivotal parliamentary elections of 2022, he gave organizations operating in Hungary a record $17 million, research carried out by the Center for Fundamental Rights reveals. The billionaire financier has bankrolled at least 153 NGOs in Hungary, many of which are active on the domestic political scene. The ideological profile of Soros- funded NGOs is centered around pro-immigration advocacy, the representation of gender issues, and “media freedom.” The Carpathian Basin is an important area of operation for Soros, who provided almost twice as much money for his Hungary-based organizations than the average of $19 million per country in Europe and the post-Soviet sphere. In some, the main target of his political corruption and influence-wielding has been the nation-state that has invariably stood up for the polar opposite of what Open Society and its affiliates advocate when it comes to immigration, the war, and gender ideology.
The first analysis by the Center for Fundamental Rights on the operation of Open Society Foundations (OSF) in Europe and the post-Soviet sphere revealed that the network provided a total of $1.4 billion, or HUF 538 billion, to organizations in the region. The volume of funding provided by OSF increased steadily over the examined period, almost doubling in the year following the outbreak of the Russia- Ukraine war. Although Open Society has disclosed transparent including reference to grantees on only part of the total sum ($781 million, corresponding to about HUF 300 billion), it can be concluded that the vast majority of funds appropriated to the region were funneled into lobbying activity and the exertion of political pressure.
The present analysis delves into the cohort of NGOs bankrolled by OSF in Hungary. The network’s official website boasts that Soros opened his first foundation in Hungary in 1984. Ever since then, he has taken undiminished interest in our region; of the foundation’s 15 offices, 5 are in Ukraine (with an additional one in Moldova) and 5 in the Western Balkans, as opposed to only 3 in Western Europe and one in Georgia.1 This hardly justifies OSF’s 2023 announcement suggesting its withdrawal from the continent. A further indication of OSF’s special interest in Hungary is that between 2016 and 2023, the network bankrolled a total of 153 NGOs to the tune of $89,494,595, equaling approximately HUF 34.5 billion. This means that each day during the period under review, globalist forces funneled an average of 12 million forints into their Hungarian affiliates through this channel alone. In years prior to upcoming parliamentary elections, a spectacular increase can be observed in the volume of OSF subsidies (Graph 1). In 2017, OSF transferred $4 million more compared to the previous year, while in 2021 they spent a record $17 million on running their bogus civil society organizations in Hungary.
 

Graph 1: Funding provided by OSF in Hungary, 2016-2023 (in millions of dollars)

In building its influence in Hungary, the Open Society Network has used its recipe applied routinely throughout Europe. Accordingly, grantees include organizations that are not primarily political, but ostensibly champion humanitarian and charitable causes. A significant number of them, however, are involved in issues such as providing assistance to illegal immigrants, promoting gender ideology, or ramping up political activism. In conclusion, their ideological profile and scope of activities bear a great resemblance to the main beneficiaries of the Soros network across Europe.
The list of the thirty Hungarian organizations funded most generously by OSF includes a host of liberal, anti-government NGOs. The Central European University (CEU) is the silver medalist, followed by the Civil College Foundation (CKA) in third place. The Municipality of Budapest, having received a one-off, exceptional grant following the election of mayor Gergely Karácsony, comes fourth. The list also features the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (6th place), the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ, 7th), and the Foundation for the Human Rights of Sex Workers (13th), established by the latter. Among the top-ranked organizations are Átlátszó (15th), Political Capital (16th), Magyar Hang Kft. (17th), K-Monitor (21st), Transparency International (22nd), Menedék – Hungarian Association for Migrants (24th), the Ökotárs Foundation (25th), and the Háttér Society (28th). The top thirty grantees received 93 percent of all Soros funds transferred to Hungary.
Despite attempts to conceal their genuine purpose, Soros’s allowances benefited anti-government organizations. A good example for this is the case of the CEU, which received 22 percent of all funding directed to Hungary ($89,494,595). The educational institution allegedly relocated to Vienna after the Hungarian government attempted to persuade it to comply with relevant laws. Despite this, it remains active in Budapest, “doing what the legal environment allows it to do”, according to Forbes.2
In 2024, CEU’s agenda included, among others, a pro-gender lecture3, a talk on the perils of Hungarian autocracy by Zoltán Fleck4, a scholar who supports rewriting the constitution with a 50 percent majority, and an invitation to Polish Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar5, one of the main people responsible for the current crisis of the rule of law in Poland.6
The Civil College Foundation (and its sister organization, the Alternative Communities Association) are largely absent from news coverage because their main role is to redistribute the funding they receive. In 2017, CKA refused to register with the Hungarian authorities as required by the Stop Soros Act.7 An organization performing a similar function, the Ökotárs Foundation, became widely known in 2014 in connection with the disbursement of Norway Grants, as its operation was untransparent and politically motivated.
In recent decades, the Helsinki Committee has become a leading organization when it comes to anti- government activism. The Helsinki Committee has sought to damage the country’s position through individual court representation and other means, and has been particularly active in supporting illegal immigrants. A good example of this is the targeting of transit zones meant to keep migrants out of the country, with their website featuring 46 entries on this issue alone. In a 2017 paper, the Helsinki Committee claims that “prolonging the crisis situation [due to mass immigration] only serves to perpetuate xenophobic, fear-mongering propaganda.”8 They also threatened the Hungarian state with appealing the cases of all detained migrants to the Strasbourg-based ECtHR through their lawyers, pointing out that “as a result of these lawsuits, the Hungarian state is expected to have to pay out many millions of forints to illegally detained asylum seekers.” According to the organization’s annual report for 2023, during its existence the Helsinki Committee has won a total of 95 cases in the Strasbourg court.9
The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ), which also seeks to thwart government policy through individual representation and legal activism, operates in a similar way. For example, during the mass vandalism of national consultation billboards, the organization compiled advice on how to avoid legal prosecution for such actions.10 In addition to these activities, the director of TASZ has expressed dissatisfaction with the Stop Soros Act, claiming it “seeks to link the existence of foreign funding with some sort of activity that is hostile toward nation and country.”11
 

Table 1: The top 30 grantees having received the most support from OSF in Hungary, together with total funding

#	Recipient organization	Funding in USD	Funding in HUF
1	Roma Education Fund	33,115,768	12,753,213,414
2	Central European University (CEU)	19,860,181	7,648,354,305
3	Civil CollegeFoundation	3,337,859	1,285,442,879
4	Municipality of the Capital City of Budapest	3,322,784	1,279,637,346
5	Validity Foundation – Mental Disability Advocacy Centre	2,622,000	1,009,758,420
6	Hungarian Helsinki Committee	2,579,885	993,539,512
7	Power of Humanity Foundation	2,316,680	893,176,635
8	Alternative Communities Foundation	2,200,000	847,242,000
9	Hungarian CivilLiberties Union (TASZ)	2,130,118	820,329,743
10	Summa ArtiumKultúra Támogató Nonprofit Kft.	1,331,499	512,773,580
11	Rights Reporter Foundation	1,121,960	432,078,016
12	Foundation for the HumanRights of Sex Workers (founded by TASZ)	783,635	301,785,675
13	Átlátszó.hu (andits affiliates)	704,532	271,322,319
14	Next StepHungary Association	693,039	266,896,249
15	Political CapitalKft.	685,123	263,847,719
16	magyarHang Nonprofit Kft.	650,000	250,321,500
17	Motivation Educational Association	649,800	250,244,478
18	Partners HungaryFoundation	592,691	228,251,231
19	Artemisszió Foundation	459,499	176,957,660
20	K-Monitor Non-Profit Association	425,360	163,810,390
21	Transparency International Hungary Foundation	422,055	162,537,601
22	Autonomy Foundation	381,706	146,998,798
23	Menedék – Hungarian Association for Migrants	368,739	142,005,076
24	Ökotárs Foundation	306,147	117,900,271
25	Rosa ParksFoundation	279,746	107,732,982
26	Nyugat Mediaand Internet Association	259,142	99,798,176
27	Háttér Society	229,543	88,399,305
28	Oltalom CharityAssociation	227,261	87,520,484
29	Romédia Foundation	227,246	87,514,707
30	Verzió FilmFoundation	227,221	87,086,993
Total		82,511,219	31,624,074,906

Soros-funded NGOs are also highly active in the field of gender issues. Among others, TASZ has demanded the legal authorization of gender reassignment in Hungary12, and the Háttér Society has represented a “transgender woman” (biological male) who sought to claim early retirement under the “Women40” scheme, which is aimed specifically at women in recognition of childbirth.13
In a large number of cases, grantees intervened directly in order to promote a change of government. The Helsinki Committee attacked the judicial reform14 adopted to gain access to frozen EU funds, as did Amnesty International15, and although the Hungarian government met all conditions, these politically motivated opinions have contributed to the country still not having full access to the EU resources it is entitled to. The Soros grant to the Municipality of Budapest, which arrived in a lump sum in 2020, almost immediately after the election of Gergely Karácsony as mayor, can be interpreted in the same political context. Péter Krekó, the head of Political Capital, a think tank ranked 16th on the list of grant recipients, argued during the pandemic that undermining the vaccination drive as pursued by the opposition at the time would have negative consequences for the government.16 Although not on the list of the top 30 grantees, Direkt36, a media outlet that recently released a film about Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, also received significant support. Intelligence information suggests that this may have been part of a broader international smear campaign funded from Ukraine.
All this also confirms that OSF, contrary to claims suggesting the opposite, remains highly active in the Central European region; while cutting off funding from sources such as USAID is of utmost importance, it does not mean that the Open Society network will be left without money. The Center for Fundamental Rights will continue its fact-finding work in the coming period with the aim of presenting an accurate picture of the political corruption perpetrated by the Soros empire. Upcoming studies will focus on the Open Society network’s influence on EU decision-making.