The chapter on Hungary in the European Commission’s Rule of Law Report is largely based on a rehash of material provided by NGOs linked to the George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, and as such its objectivity and trustworthiness is questionable, Judit Varga said on Facebook on Thursday.
Fully 13 articles of source material referenced in the report are linked to 11 NGOs that have received financial support from organisations financed by Soros, Varga said.
“The list may be familiar: it includes the Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ), EKKINT and Mertek,” Varga said, adding that this was only “for starters”.
Also several earlier EC reports are referenced, she said. “If we study their sources, again we often come across those same NGOs,” Varga said, adding that the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, the EU’s Venice Commission and GRECO “preferred” to cite the reports of such NGOs.
Varga said Hungary had made every effort to ensure that the EC’s report on the rule of law met, at the very least, the minimum requirements of objectivity and balance, noting that the government had submitted detailed analyses in aid of the report’s preparation over the past year.
“The commission has essentially ignored our material,” Varga said, adding the justice ministry has posted the documents and “authentic information” on its website.
featured image via György Varga/MTI
