USAID was a well-known agency in Hungary accused of tilting the NGO and media landscape to the left.Continue reading
“The international media project led by 444 is using Brussels funds to exert political pressure,” the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty said in a statement sent to MTI on Thursday.
It said the office had investigated a media project called The Eastern Frontier Initiative (TEFI), which is also conducting a media campaign in Hungary, and found that it is an integral part of the Soros network and is funded by the European Commission. The Office’s investigations found that, like the European Commission’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Program (CERV), the Soros network receives substantial funding from the Creative Europe program, they added.
It was also reported that the official justification for the project said it was set up to strengthen common thinking and cooperation on European security issues in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe.
The real purpose of the program, however, is to monitor priority strategic areas for the countries of the region, such as national security, defense procurement, energy security, cyber defense and the relationship with the Russian-Ukrainian war,”
they pointed out.
According to the Office, the exploration of these issues are meant to be used to align public opinion in the region “with the interests of the US Democratic Party and its business circles”. This is why the political pressure groups involved have targeted Hungary and Slovakia in particular, they added.
They also pointed out that the media project is led by Magyar Jeti Zrt., the publisher of opposition media outlet 444 in Hungary.
Furthermore, it includes the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza, the Slovak Sme, the Dutch Bellingcat, and the Romanian PressOne, “all of which are newspapers linked to the George Soros network.”
As the Office pointed out, “one of the most prominent of these is Bellingcat, which has a secret service background and is ostensibly dedicated to the transfer of modern, open-source intelligence techniques, including the creation of a training center for participating journalists,” they explained. They added that Bellingcat is backed by the National Endowment for Democracy, commonly known as the US’ main ‘democracy export’ foundation.
The organizations involved in the project have reportedly received nearly €1.1 million in grants over the last two years.
According to the Office, the consortium members, in addition to their articles “driven by manipulative and disinformation narratives”, regularly publish together with the think-tank Globsec. Globsec is considered to be the EU’s strategy workshop, with various publications which are also distributed in schools and universities. It is also supported by George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, and is an ideologically driven body, as evidenced by the fact that its board and advisory council includes people such as former Hungarian socialist Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, or Dávid Korányi, who “played a key role in organizing the illegal financing of opposition parties during the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary elections”, the Office pointed out.
The Office for the Protection of Sovereignty drew attention to the fact that “Brussels is overstepping its powers, financing propaganda campaigns on issues that are within national competence and that affect national sovereignty most deeply”.
Via MTI, Featured photo via Pexels