Billionaire investor George Soros has confirmed he wants to bring down Europe’s borders, following the accusation made last week by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Last week, Mr Orban accused Mr Soros – who was born in Hungary – of deliberately encouraging the migrant crisis.
“This invasion is driven, on the one hand, by people smugglers, and on the other by those (human rights) activists who support everything that weakens the nation-state,” Mr Orban said.
“This Western mindset and this activist network is perhaps best represented by George Soros.”
Mr Soros has now issued an email statement to Bloomberg Business, claiming his foundations help “uphold European values”, while Mr Oban’s actions in strengthening the Hungarian border and stopping a huge migrant influx “undermine those values.”
“His plan treats the protection of national borders as the objective and the refugees as an obstacle,” Mr Soros added. “Our plan treats the protection of refugees as the objective and national borders as the obstacle.”
Last month, Mr Orban accused pro-immigration non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of “drawing a living from the immigration crisis,” singling out those funded by Mr Soros.
George Soros is a firm backer of transnational bodies such as the European Union, and his Open Society Foundation (OSF) provides assistance for pro-migration activists. He is well-known for his support for “progressive” causes such as the Centre for American Progress, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
The OSF website explains: “We believe that migration and asylum policy should be grounded in economic and demographic realities, not driven by temporary political considerations or popular misconceptions.
“In Europe, many of our civil society partners are raising their voices demanding a common European approach in line with international human rights commitments.”
Mr Orban said in an interview last month that immigration and multiculturalism are endangering Europe’s “Christian roots” and creating “parallel societies”.
Europeans, he said, should “stick to our Christian values” and “Europe can be saved,” but only if they “take seriously the traditions, the Christian roots and all the values that are the basis of the civilisation of Europe.”