American influence in Hungary (6)

The declaration of allegiance signed by Gergely Karácsony – and of course, many others.

Our series of articles illuminating American influence in Hungary has shown how the greenbacks have aligned themselves with left-liberal parties since the 1990s. We also reported on the astonishing amount of American financial support in the last parliamentary elections that broke records. Our articles revealed how, aside from millions of dollars, an overseas army of experts came to work for the Gyurcsány-led opposition coalition. 

Examples made it clear that in exchange for aid and funding, certain foreign entities expected business advantages as well as influence over domestic policy. We detailed how the web of American-funded NGOs came about in Hungary which pursue political efforts under the guise of civil organizations. In the last portion of our series, we will introduce the conditions, enthusiastic signatories and supporters of an unprecedented declaration of loyalty. 

Goerge Soros’ network had been interfering with Hungarian politics before the 2018 elections – in fact, it seeks to attain long-term influence through the country's highest body, the Hungarian Parliament. 

The organizations tied to Soros, pretending to be from the civil sphere – and headed by Transparency International – requested a pledge of allegiance from the opposition representatives before the elections four years ago. Those politicians practically made a unilateral, irrevocable, joint declaration to several organizations belonging to the Soros-network.  

The opposition politicians who signed agreed to the following: if they were elected to the Hungarian Parliament in the April 8 election, they would do their best to ensure that the proposals compiled by Transparency International (TI) would be implemented. 

In addition to TI, many well-known domestic activist organizations from the Soros world can be found on the Stop Corruption initiative website such as: the Human Platform, the migrant-supporting Artemisszió Foundation, the domestic vanguards of LGBTQ propaganda Labrisz Association, and the Levegő Working Group. 

Representatives could be legally and financially blackmailed 

Now, let us see exactly what these Hungarian politicians signed on for. The signatories of the “loyalty pledge” agreed that if they get a parliamentary mandate, they will vote according to the points drawn up by Soros’ circle in the National Assembly and in parliamentary committees; they will also release press statements accordingly as well as submit bills. They took an oath to reject any government or ministerial activities that were contrary to the Soros goals. 

They also stated that if they do not fulfill their commitments, they will immediately resign from their parliamentary mandate within eight days – if they do not do so, a lawsuit will be launched against them. The document also writes that if a signatory violates their obligations, they must forfeit part of their salary. Throughout their term as MP, they must also donate any amount of their monthly salary that exceeds the current minimum wage to a public institution for educational or health care and adequately prove this to the public. 

Moreover, with their signatures, the candidates acknowledged that in the event of violating the declaration, TI will file a lawsuit against them independently or together with at least three of the other NGOs in order to enforce fulfillment of the commitments. 

Simply put, those representatives that pledged allegiance to Soros could now be financially and legally blackmailed. This is wrong not in the least due to Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law stating the principle of free mandate: “Members of the National Assembly shall perform their activities in the public interest, and they shall not be given instructions in that respect.” 

Hidden commitments 

Those who signed the document formally took an oath to do everything in their power to actualize the Soros-funded TI’s proposals during their mandate if they were elected for the 2018-2022 cycle. These proposals were documented in the study detailing measures to reduce corruption in Hungary. 

At first glance, the document contains anti-corruption measures, however all of the Soros-networks’ political aims can be found between the lines: 

rehabilitating “civil organizations”, terminating media attacks against George Soros and migration, transforming the press, and every rule-of-law, justice administration, and party functioning mantra that has been repeated ad nauseam. Based on the 2018 proposals it is clear that they had something against the Hungarian National Bank as well and they would have terminated the investments that are important to the national economy.  

Gergely Karácsony a signatory, Gyurcsány pledges verbal support 

So now let us see how the parties reacted to Soros’ requests. Fidesz clearly knew who and what this entailed – so it is no surprise they rejected the provocation. Director of Communications of Fidesz Balázs Hidvéghi responded by saying the TI study was a political pamphlet and the proposals were a Trojan Horse.  

The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) did not issue its own reaction, but Gergely Karácsony, PM candidate of the MSZP-Párbeszéd (Dialogue for Hungary) party alliance, expressed his agreement with the 12 “civil” points and personally signed the document. Alongside the current Budapest Mayor, several LMP (Politics Can Be Different) representatives signed the Soros oath as well: Ákos Hadházy, Bernadett Szél, Gábor Vágó, and Erzsébet Schmuck. 

The Democratic Coalition (DK) led by former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány, conveyed their support for Soros’ circle with a statement: “... it is only natural that DK agrees with your initiative and we support the 12 points.” They also assured the initiators that “their representatives who enter the Parliament will support all proposals that serve this purpose through their votes and the DK experts are working on a complex proposal.” 

Under the guise of a fight against corruption – a topic always on the agenda, to simply chew on – it would have meant in reality the acceptance of a government program drawn up by the Soros organizations. Such outsourcing of government powers is a common model for the Soros organizations and can be seen in the US Democratic Party as well as Brussels’ bureaucracy which are intertwined with the operation of the Soros network. 

It is known that Soros has an extensive network of contacts in not only Brussels but the whole EU institutional system. 

On paper, the Soros organizations play an advisory role in Brussels politics, but in reality, they exert pressure on decision-makers and may have been involved in the reports condemning Hungary, among other things. The American speculator has access to the offices of the heads of the European Commission and EU decision-makers meet him more often than the heads of states from member states. It previously came to light that EP-accredited lobbyists tied to George Soros meet with Commission representatives 52 times per year – that is, on a weekly basis. According to official documents, in only 2016 alone, lobbying costs reached 2.5 million euros. 

The American speculator’s people influence the leftist-led Hungarian capital similarly – starting with the fall of 2019 when Gergely Karácsony symbolically handed over the City Hall keys to a Soros-NGO after his election. In light of this, the public procurement of the Chain bridge renovation, which is taking longer and more money than expected, was supervised by Transparency International Hungary for corruption in exchange for HUF 1.3 million. 

Photo: Gergely Karácsony (MTI/Koszticsák Szilárd)