Hungary launches a new anti-immigration media campaign in which it accuses George Soros and EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker of allegedly supporting illegal migration, but which Brussels immediately dismisses as “fake news.”
According to the Hungarian government’s Facebook page, the media blitz — funded with taxpayers’ money — is expected to include billboard posters featuring images of the liberal US Jewish billionaire Soros and a smiling Juncker above the words: “You too have a right to know what Brussels is preparing.”
“They want to bring in the mandatory settlement quota; weaken member states’ rights to border defense; facilitate immigration with a migrant visa,” it continues.
This poster featuring US billionaire George Soros in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, was part of a government campaign, July 6, 2017. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images)
Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing government, which has frequently clashed with the EU on migration, has regularly undertaken similar campaigns in the past, including “Let’s Stop Brussels” and “Don’t let Soros have the last laugh.”
In recent years, Orban has blasted the Hungarian-born 88-year-old philanthropist and investor as a “public enemy” for allegedly backing uncontrolled mass immigration.
At the same time, Orban’s government has frequently been accused of using anti-Semitic tropes and imagery in its campaigns against Soros, claims it denies.
“Brussels continues to want to support illegal immigration,” Zoltan Kovacs, a government spokesperson, tells reporters in Budapest.
“Hungarians need to know about this, that’s why the latest information campaign has been launched,” he says, denying it is part of the upcoming European Parliament election campaign.
— AFP
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