Hungary will push ahead with legislation to put foreign-funded non-governmental organizations under more scrutiny, as those financed by billionaire George Soros operate as a „mafia-like“ network, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. Orban, a right-wing populist, has long criticized civil society organizations funded by Hungarian-born Soros, accusing them of opposing his tough migration policies, and working as paid political activists advocating Soros‘ goals. The Hungarian premier, who faces elections in April 2018, said Soros‘ statement on Thursday that he admired „the courageous way Hungarians have resisted the deception and corruption of the mafia state Orban has established“, was a declaration of war. „This is a declaration of war, no doubt,“ Orban told state radio. „The only network which operates in mafia ways, which is not transparent… in Hungary is the Soros network.“
