Progressive billionaire George Soros has called on the EU to cut funding to Hungary over rule of law issues, with his statement released following a decision made by the EU’s top court which favored George Soros’s Central European University over the Hungarian government.
“I call on the EU to make Hungary a test case,” Soros wrote in a statement, urging Brussels to make an example out of Hungary, including attempts to tie EU funding to rule of law conditions.
Near the end of the statement, the liberal billionaire investor urged the European Union, which at the moment is debating on whether or not to make the distribution of EU aid linked to so-called ‘rule of law’ conditions, to cut its funding to Hungary.
For the liberal billionaire, setting such a precedent would send a clear message to other EU nations: those who refuse to obey Brussels’ edicts will face real consequences.
In a statement, Soros claimed that “the Hungarian government continues to trample on EU Law”, adding that its latest victim was “the world-famous University of Theater and Arts (SZFE)” in Budapest, Hungarian newspaper Magyar Hirlap reports.
Soros’s sentiments were echoed nearly verbatim late week by the Deputy Head of the European Parliament, Katarina Barley – also a German MP for the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) – when she urged the EU to “starve” Poland and Hungary of EU funds, Remix News reported.
“The rule of law is constantly broken and EU funds are an efficient way to exact pressure. States such as Poland and Hungary must be financially starved. Funds are an efficient lever,” Barley said during an interview with German radio.
Following the German MEP’s statements, several Polish politicians were quick to hit back, saying that the use of word “starvation” – in the context of Polish-German relations – reminded them of rhetoric used by Nazis during World War II.
“This statement is outrageous and reminds us of the most dreadful historic connotations. We could say that Germans have ample experience in starving and persecuting Poles. We are awaiting an official apology from Mrs. Barley and the retraction of these shameful words,” Michał Dworczyk, the chief of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, wrote.
On Tuesday, Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party called on Katarina Barley to resign from her post as the Deputy Head of the European Parliament as a result of the offensive statements that she made on German radio, Remix News reported.
The motion was presented by PiS, a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists EU parliamentary group, at Tuesday’s meeting of the European Parliament presidency.
