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FIDESZ TURNS TO PROSECUTOR OVER MIGRATION AID BECOMING POLITICAL PARTY

Ruling Fidesz is turning to the prosecutor’s office over civil group Migration Aid’s move to become a political party, a Fidesz lawmaker said. From now on, Fidesz’s antimigration cabinet will be monitoring “the domestic flow of Soros monies”, Szilárd Németh, the head of the cabinet, said. Németh insisted that US billionaire George Soros’s donations to Hungarian NGOs “always end up with organisations supporting migration”. This was why, he said, Fidesz needed to keep track of the flow of his donations. He said Migration Aid, which he called a “pseudo NGO”, had decided to transition into a political party to avoid having to pay the newly-introduced 25% migration levy imposed on organisations that support migration.

The lawmaker noted that Migration Aid’s situation has also been discussed by parliament’s justice committee and the body has asked the government to look into the matter. Németh said the migration levy was a way for promigration organisations to pay their share of the public burden. “Those who receive money for the purpose of causing difficulties in the life of a country should pay taxes on that money,” he argued, adding that the migration levy served to protect Hungary and Europe the same way Hungary’s border fence, tightened asylum laws and the “Stop Soros” package of laws and its related constitutional amendment did.