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Think tank Századvég pens open letter to European Parliament and Commission

The Századvég Foundation, a conservative think tank established in Hungary in 1993, has reached out to the European Commission and the European Parliament with a letter on the need to distance themselves from the influence of George Soros and his Open Society Foundations, and other affiliated groups.

The Századvég Foundation, a conservative think tank established in Hungary in 1993, has reached out to the European Commission and the European Parliament with a letter on the need to distance themselves from the influence of George Soros and his Open Society Foundations, and other affiliated groups. The letter points to the Union’s own Treaty, which is meant to protect Member States from foreign intervention, something that is fully respected when it comes to, say, Russia, but not so much other, more favored, third parties.

Here below is the letter in full.

The leaders of the European Commission and the European Parliament should dissent from the anti-European and anti-Hungarian manifestations of George Soros

We are writing this letter in the spirit of preserving the integrity of the European Union and the sovereignty of the Member States that constitute the community, and for taking measures against attempted manipulations by foreign, third-party pressure groups posing a threat thereto.

As is well known, in his statement, George Soros, Global Board Chair of the Open Society Foundations, called on the decision-makers in Brussels to punish Hungary in financial terms, to set an example with one of the independent sovereign EU Member States.

The significance of Soros is evidenced and confirmed by the meetings organized and photos taken with the joint participation of the American billionaire and dozens of EU senior leaders over the past decade.

In our view, the move of the speculator, who has close connections with the left wing in the United States and can be linked to domestic terrorist organizations in his country, can be considered an interference in the internal affairs of the Community and the sovereign states constituting it.

As a starting point, it is important to note that Articles 4 and 5 of the Treaty on the European Union set out the principles of the division of competences between the Community and the Member States, thereby designating the political and legal room for maneuvering of nation states. The law provides that all competencies not conferred on the EU in the Treaties are vested in the Member States, emphasizing in particular that the protection of national security is the sole responsibility of each Member State. It follows that the powers of the Community are of a derivative nature, the framework of which is laid down in the Treaties approved and amended by the Member States.

As a result of the limited powers of the EU and the requirement for the respect of the fundamental public functions enshrined in the TEU, nation states can legitimately make a claim against attempted foreign (in this case overseas) influence affecting their internal affairs. Nor should we forget that, on several occasions in recent years, the EU has spoken out against Russia's intervention attempts. According to a European Parliament resolution adopted in 2019, the "danger of Russian propaganda" is alarming, whereas a report delivered by the European Commission pointed out that "the European elections were not entirely free of misleading information", with external and internal actors related to Russian resources in the background. In light of this, the question can rightly be asked why the EU bodies are more lenient with George Soros and his associated lobbying organizations’ invasive activities aiming to manipulate domestic political relations.

However, it appears that the case that best serves as the subject of the present open letter is the first occasion when Hungary's national competencies were disregarded. The question may arise as to how the provisions relating to the spirit of the Treaties and the protection of the sovereignty of the Member States can be reconciled with the attacks – aimed at Hungary and Hungarian citizens – that can be linked to Judith Sargentini, Dutch MEP, and Katarina Barley, Vice-President of the European Parliament.

In light of the above, we respectfully ask whether you consider it acceptable that a stock market speculator without a democratic mandate exerts pressure on the European Union, including Hungary.

If your answer is ‘no’ or you consider it necessary to stand up for Hungary as a member of the European Community and to refuse the attempted influence, we call on you to dissent from the anti-European and anti-Hungarian manifestations of the Global Board Chair of the Open Society Foundations as soon as possible.

Budapest, October 8, 2020

About Századvég Foundation

The Századvég Foundation was established in 1993 as the first conservative political think tank in Hungary. It has been conducting public opinion research as well as political and social analysis for more than 25 years. Századvég’s research-based policy studies cover a wide range of policy areas such as economic policy, foreign and security policy, demography, and youth and family policy issues. The Foundation also conducts important sociology research projects, filling decade-long gaps of research, to reveal the deep structures within the subsystems of European and Hungarian society.