Barely a few hours after the European Court’s decision condemning and punishing Hungary, the head of an NGO backed with substantial funding from billionaire oligarch George Soros celebrated the judgment against Hungary from the EU’s top court. The European Court of Justice (ECJ), which slapped Hungary with a massive €200 million fine for protecting its borders from illegal immigration, is also threatening an additional penalty of €1 million a day if Hungary continues to restrict asylum access to migrants.
The head of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), Gerald Knaus, welcomed the decision with a post on X, calling it a “historic” decision.
The ESI lists the Open Society Foundation (OSF) as a “major core funder,” with the OSF serving as the primary foundation for billionaire oligarch George Soros, who has been convicted of insider trading and is known for his speculative bets that “broke the Bank of England.” Soros has long called for the EU to punish Hungary with financial penalties and to make Hungary a “test case,” a move that will leave Hungary struggling to pay pensions, support schools, and fund hospitals.
The ESI has close ties to Soros, and the Austrian social scientist leading the organization has access to all the major European institutions. The ESI also produces so-called shadow reports, i.e., background material meant to influence the political system in Brussels. Knaus is also at home in the media, influencing the editorial boards of the global press, which regularly criticizes Hungary.
As Remix News recently reported, in a ruling published on Thursday, the European Court of Justice ordered Hungary to pay approximately HUF 80 billion Hungarian (€200 million) for violating EU law on, among other things, procedures for granting international protection and returning nationals of non-EU countries illegally staying in the EU.
The court in Luxembourg also ordered Hungary to pay a penalty payment of €1 million for each day of delay in complying with the rules, as the court argues that Hungary has failed to meet the court’s expectations in a 2020 ruling.
Orbán has responded to the ruling, saying:
“The court of George Soros made this judgment. It is well known that the European Union, the Brussels bubble, as we call it, is full of people from George Soros. This is true for the EU Parliament, the Commission and the judiciary. Soros has a plan, he has announced it, he has never hidden it, he wrote it himself, he put his signature on it, it has been published. He has a plan to bring in a million migrants a year, if the EU doesn’t have the money, he will lend it to them, and he has a plan to change the traditional image of the European continent, which is Christian and European, and to turn Europe into a mixed continent, a continent with a mixed population. It’s okay if the White man and the European man are dwindling, and some other kind of man will come from somewhere else. This is the essence of the Soros plan. Yesterday, the first person to welcome the court’s decision was George Soros’ lead man in Brussels.”
The Hungarian government has since said it will refuse to pay the fine; however, the money may be deducted from Hungary’s EU budget. Hungarian officials say that half of the promised cohesion funds have already been paid, but legal battles are likely ahead. The Hungarian government is at a distinct disadvantage at the EU level, with most of the courts operating openly against Orbán and other conservative governments.
