- Title: George Soros speaks out against Orban's "mafia state".
- Date: 1st June 2017
- Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (FILE - APRIL 9, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS OPPOSING PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN AND THE NEW EDUCATION LAW MARCHING IN BUDAPEST
- Embargoed: 15th June 2017 12:10
- Keywords: George Soros CEU Hungary Viktor Orban
- Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM AND BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
- City: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM AND BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Lawmaking,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0026JG506X
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PICTURES AS INCOMING
Business magnate George Soros, founder of Open Society Foundations, said on Thursday (June 1) that he was surprised by the extent of the protests triggered by right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's passing of a new legislation that could force out of the country one of its top international universities.
The Central European University (CEU), a school founded by Soros, may have to leave Hungary after a bill passed in Parliament in April by Orban's Fidesz party set stringent, new conditions under which it must operate.
The bill led to criticism from hundreds of leading academics worldwide as well as from the U.S. government and the European Union.
The protest drew some of the largest crowds against Orban's seven-year rule, with organizers estimating attendance around 70,000.
Speaking at the Brussels Economic Forum, an event organized by the European Commission, the financier mocked how the Hungarian premier often vilified him.
Soros' ideals are squarely at odds with Orban's view that European culture is under an existential threat from migration and multiculturalism.
Soros went on saying he admired the Hungarian people for 'resisting' a government he described as 'corrupt' and trying to turn Hungary, his native country, into a 'mafia state.'
The law the Hungarian government votes required foreign universities to maintain a campus in their home countries and secure a bilateral agreement between Hungary and their governments.
The rules are admittedly targeting organizations funded by Soros, who for decades has given away billions of dollars of his fortune to support causes of a liberal "open society" worldwide. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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