Budapest — George Soros’s Open Society Foundations will close its office in Budapest and move to the German capital of Berlin, the organisation said on Tuesday, leaving what it called an increasingly repressive political and legal environment.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has blamed Soros, a Hungarian-born US financier, for a host of ills and is planning to tighten a crackdown on nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) under legislation dubbed the "Stop Soros" bill.

"The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work, and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the EU," Open Society Foundations president Patrick Gaspard said.

A senior minister in Orban’s new government said on Monday that Hungary would tighten the bill on NGOs following the ruling party’s big election victory in April, a move likely to dismay the European Union and rights groups.

Open Society said it would continue to support the work of civil society groups in Hungary on issues such as human rights, arts and culture, media freedom, transparency, education and healthcare.

It said it would "pursue all available legal avenues to defend the fundamental rights that are threatened by the legislation".

The bill would allow the interior minister to ban any NGOs active in the immigration field deemed to pose a "national security risk". It would also impose a 25% tax on foreign donations to NGOs that back migration. </s> (CNN) A foundation founded by Hungarian-born billionaire philanthropist George Soros is moving its Budapest operations to Germany following the right-wing Hungarian government's crackdown on civil-society organizations and targeted attacks on Soros.

The Budapest branch of Open Society Foundations (OSF), which works to combat authoritarianism and promote human rights around the world and has outposts in more than 100 countries, will move to Berlin because of the "increasingly repressive political and legal environment in Hungary," according to a statement Tuesday.

"The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union," said OSF President Patrick Gaspard.

Responding to that accusation, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the foundation "is fleeing from transparency." In an emailed statement Wednesday, the spokesperson said, "They don't want the public to know exactly what they are engaged in and in what way and thanks to what financing they are supporting immigration."

The announcement by the foundation came one day after Orban pledged to submit a new legislative package known as "Stop Soros" to parliament as soon as the new government is formed. Parliamentary elections last month saw Orban's Fidesz coalition win a supermajority , giving it the power to make sweeping changes to the country's laws and constitution.

Read More </s> The Open Society Foundations (OSF), backed by billionaire George Soros, will shut its office in Budapest and relocate to Berlin amid a political and legal crackdown against the organization, the OSF said on Tuesday.

The move follows a decision by the Hungarian government to tighten a bill dubbed "Stop Soros" that would restrict the work of Hungarian non-governmental organizations that receive foreign funding.

Read more: George Soros' Open Society Foundations may move Budapest office to Berlin

What we know so far:
• OSF President Patrick Gaspard said: "The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union."
• "It has become impossible to protect the security of our operations and our staff in Hungary from arbitrary government interference," Gaspard said.
• OSF said it would still support the work of civil society groups in Hungary after it had left. But it would "pursue all available legal avenues to defend the fundamental rights that are threatened by the [Stop Soros] legislation."
• On Monday, Antal Rogan, the minister for Orban's cabinet office, said the government would propose a "tighter" Stop Soros bill without providing any details. He cited Orban's landslide reelection in April as giving the government a mandate for a stronger law.

What would the Stop Soros law do? As it stands, the proposed law would allow the interior ministry to ban an NGO that deals with immigration if it posed a "national security risk." It would also introduce a 25 percent tax on foreign donations to NGOs that support migration.

Who is George Soros? Soros is a US billionaire and philanthropist who was born to a Jewish family in Hungary in 1930. He emigrated to the United States in 1956 and later began a successful career as an investor.

What is the OSF? The foundation supports and funds democracy and civil society initiatives in more than 100 countries worldwide. Soros is the founder and chair and has donated more than $32 billion (€27 billion) to the organization. </s> The signboard of George Soros' Open Society Foundations (OSF) is seen in a building in Budapest, April 20, 2018.

George Soros’ Open Society Foundations will close their office in Budapest and move to the German capital of Berlin, the organization said on Tuesday, leaving what it called an increasingly repressive political and legal environment.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has blamed Soros, a Hungarian-born U.S. financier, for a host of ills and is planning to tighten a crackdown on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) under legislation dubbed the “Stop Soros” bill.

“The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union,” Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations, said in a statement.

A senior minister in Orban’s new government said on Monday that Hungary would tighten the bill on non-government groups following the ruling party’s big election victory last month, a move likely to dismay the European Union and rights groups.

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Open Society said it would continue to support the work of civil society groups in Hungary on issues such as human rights, arts and culture, media freedom, transparency, and education and health care.

It added, however, that it would “pursue all available legal avenues to defend the fundamental rights that are threatened by the legislation.”

The bill would allow the interior minister to ban any NGOs active in the immigration field deemed to pose a “national security risk.” It would also impose a 25 percent tax on foreign donations to NGOs that back migration. </s> The philanthropic foundation funded by the billionaire George Soros is to close its offices in Hungary, saying it can’t protect its own staff from the country’s government.

Open Society Foundations will move its international operations in Budapest to Berlin in Germany, according to a press release Tuesday.

“The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union,” said Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations.

The Hungarian government, led by the recently re-elected Viktor Orban, won a strong mandate by campaigning on the issue of migration, which included the promise of a “stop Soros” package.

Orban launched a nationwide television and billboard advertising campaign in July accusing Soros of devising Europe’s refugee crisis. Critics of Orban’s drive to condemn the 87-year-old investor said posters were not dissimilar to the anti-Semitic imagery of the 1930s, which portrayed Jews as political manipulators. </s> George Soros’ Open Society Foundations has been forced to end its operations in Hungary, accusing Budapest of repressing civil society.

President of the Open Society Foundations Patrick Gaspard lashed out at Budapest, saying it has “denigrated and misrepresented our work,” while repressing civil society “for the sake of political gain.”

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly slammed the billionaire globalist for meddling in the nation’s internal affairs.

Sputnik News reports: According to reports, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations will close their office in the Hungarian capital and move to Berlin.

Hungary is one of the most anti-immigrant EU member-states and has constantly clashed with the European Union over their contrasting stances on tackling the migrant crisis.

The Hungarian government has been pushing to adopt the so-called “Stop Soros Act,” which would allow banning activities of pro-immigration policies in Hungary. The bill was submitted to parliament in February.

In addition to supporting pro-immigrant causes, the billionaire has also donated funds to pro-EU groups, such as the Best for Britain group, which is campaigning against Brexit. </s> According to reports, George Soros' Open Society Foundations will close their office in the Hungarian capital and move to Berlin.

"The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union," Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations, said.

Hungary is one of the most anti-immigrant EU member-states and has constantly clashed with the European Union over their contrasting stances on tackling the migrant crisis.

READ MORE: Hungary Will 'Tighten' Anti-Soros Bill, Submit to Parliament by June — Minister

In addition to supporting pro-immigrant causes, the billionaire has also donated funds to pro-EU groups, such as the Best for Britain group, which is campaigning against Brexit.

George Soros' Open Society Foundations operates more than 40 offices around the world. </s> Globalist billionaire George Soros’s international grantmaking network is closing its Hungary office and will relocate to Germany in response to the government’s crackdown on foreign-funded NGOs.

“Faced with an increasingly repressive political and legal environment in Hungary, the Open Society Foundations (OSF) are moving their Budapest-based international operations and staff to the German capital, Berlin,” the network confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.

The decision to shut down operations in Hungary comes as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “prepares to impose further restrictions on nongovernmental organisations through what it has branded its ‘Stop Soros’ package of legislation”, according to the statement.

Hitting out at the proposals, which would tax foreign NGO income and clamp down on so-called civil society efforts to promote illegal immigration, OSF President Patrick Gaspard blasted Budapest for “using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union” to “denigrate” and “repress” the group’s work.

As well as bemoaning “burdensome” transparency requirements on funding from abroad, the group registered its particular anger over measures in the package invoking national security interests, such as rules which would require NGOs working with asylum seekers to be licensed by the government.

“The Foundations will pursue all available legal avenues to defend the fundamental rights that are threatened by the legislation,” OSF said in the statement, vowing to continue the organisation’s work in Hungary through funding from the German capital.

When news of the foundation’s possible exit from Budapest emerged last month, Orbán remarked on public radio: “I think you will understand if I fail to cry over its decision to close the headquarters in our capital.”

“The fight against Soros, its liberal ideology, its initiatives on migrants, will continue wherever the foundations of its foundation are,” he told MR1.

Pointing to recent meetings in Brussels between the Hungarian-born financier and high-level EU representatives, the government has said it is “crystal clear” that Soros remains committed to subverting politics, including his goal of flooding Europe with third world migrants, despite a landslide victory for Fidesz earlier this year giving a massive mandate to the party to stop plans to make the nation “multicultural”.

Declaring an end to ‘the era of ‘liberal democracy’ in the inaugural speech of his new parliamentary term at the weekend, Orbán vowed to learn from the West’s mistakes in building a “21st Century Christian democracy which guarantees human dignity, freedom, and security, protects the equal rights of men and women [and] the model of the traditional family”. </s> ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundation said on Monday it has decided to cease operations in Turkey, saying ‘baseless claims’ in the media made it impossible for the foundation to carry out its work.

It also said recent investigations by the Interior Ministry had attempted to show a link, which the foundation denied, to mass protests in Turkey five years ago.

The foundation said it would apply for the legal liquidation and winding up of the company’s operations as soon as possible.
George Soros' Open Society Foundations announces that it is moving its operations in Budapest to Germany.