BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) – Hungary’s prime minister says criticism by billionaire George Soros who has made claims about corruption and a “mafia state” in Hungary is a “declaration of war.”
Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Friday that the Hungarian-American investor is paying “agent-like networks” of non-governmental organizations to enforce his policies, including the promotion of migration, in Europe and Hungary.
Replying to a Soros speech Thursday in Brussels, Orban said on state radio that Soros’ policies were “elitist and anti-democratic” because they were opposed by the Hungarian people.
Orban accused the NGOs supported by Soros of lacking transparency and operating “like a mafia.”
The ideological conflict between Orban and Soros has deepened in the past months after parliament approved legal changes which could force Central European University, founded by Soros, to leave Budapest.