(CNN) A foundation founded by Hungarian-born billionaire philanthropist George Soros is moving its Budapest operations to Germany following the right-wing Hungarian government's crackdown on civil-society organizations and targeted attacks on Soros.

The Budapest branch of Open Society Foundations (OSF), which works to combat authoritarianism and promote human rights around the world and has outposts in more than 100 countries, will move to Berlin because of the "increasingly repressive political and legal environment in Hungary," according to a statement Tuesday.

"The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union," said OSF President Patrick Gaspard.

Responding to that accusation, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the foundation "is fleeing from transparency." In an emailed statement Wednesday, the spokesperson said, "They don't want the public to know exactly what they are engaged in and in what way and thanks to what financing they are supporting immigration."

The announcement by the foundation came one day after Orban pledged to submit a new legislative package known as "Stop Soros" to parliament as soon as the new government is formed. Parliamentary elections last month saw Orban's Fidesz coalition win a supermajority , giving it the power to make sweeping changes to the country's laws and constitution.

Read More</s>George Soros’ Open Society Foundations has been forced to end its operations in Hungary, accusing Budapest of repressing civil society.

President of the Open Society Foundations Patrick Gaspard lashed out at Budapest, saying it has “denigrated and misrepresented our work,” while repressing civil society “for the sake of political gain.”

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly slammed the billionaire globalist for meddling in the nation’s internal affairs.

Sputnik News reports: According to reports, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations will close their office in the Hungarian capital and move to Berlin.

Hungary is one of the most anti-immigrant EU member-states and has constantly clashed with the European Union over their contrasting stances on tackling the migrant crisis.

The Hungarian government has been pushing to adopt the so-called “Stop Soros Act,” which would allow banning activities of pro-immigration policies in Hungary. The bill was submitted to parliament in February.

In addition to supporting pro-immigrant causes, the billionaire has also donated funds to pro-EU groups, such as the Best for Britain group, which is campaigning against Brexit.</s>Budapest — George Soros’s Open Society Foundations will close its office in Budapest and move to the German capital of Berlin, the organisation said on Tuesday, leaving what it called an increasingly repressive political and legal environment.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has blamed Soros, a Hungarian-born US financier, for a host of ills and is planning to tighten a crackdown on nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) under legislation dubbed the "Stop Soros" bill.

"The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work, and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the EU," Open Society Foundations president Patrick Gaspard said.

A senior minister in Orban’s new government said on Monday that Hungary would tighten the bill on NGOs following the ruling party’s big election victory in April, a move likely to dismay the European Union and rights groups.

Open Society said it would continue to support the work of civil society groups in Hungary on issues such as human rights, arts and culture, media freedom, transparency, education and healthcare.

It said it would "pursue all available legal avenues to defend the fundamental rights that are threatened by the legislation".

The bill would allow the interior minister to ban any NGOs active in the immigration field deemed to pose a "national security risk". It would also impose a 25% tax on foreign donations to NGOs that back migration.</s>The Open Society Foundations (OSF), backed by billionaire George Soros, will shut its office in Budapest and relocate to Berlin amid a political and legal crackdown against the organization, the OSF said on Tuesday.

The move follows a decision by the Hungarian government to tighten a bill dubbed "Stop Soros" that would restrict the work of Hungarian non-governmental organizations that receive foreign funding.

Read more: George Soros' Open Society Foundations may move Budapest office to Berlin

What we know so far:
• OSF President Patrick Gaspard said: "The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union."
• "It has become impossible to protect the security of our operations and our staff in Hungary from arbitrary government interference," Gaspard said.
• OSF said it would still support the work of civil society groups in Hungary after it had left. But it would "pursue all available legal avenues to defend the fundamental rights that are threatened by the [Stop Soros] legislation."
• On Monday, Antal Rogan, the minister for Orban's cabinet office, said the government would propose a "tighter" Stop Soros bill without providing any details. He cited Orban's landslide reelection in April as giving the government a mandate for a stronger law.

What would the Stop Soros law do? As it stands, the proposed law would allow the interior ministry to ban an NGO that deals with immigration if it posed a "national security risk." It would also introduce a 25 percent tax on foreign donations to NGOs that support migration.

Who is George Soros? Soros is a US billionaire and philanthropist who was born to a Jewish family in Hungary in 1930. He emigrated to the United States in 1956 and later began a successful career as an investor.

What is the OSF? The foundation supports and funds democracy and civil society initiatives in more than 100 countries worldwide. Soros is the founder and chair and has donated more than $32 billion (€27 billion) to the organization.</s>The step was taken because of the increasingly repressive political and legal environment in Hungary, the New York-based foundation announced in a press release.



The office and its staff will move to Berlin. 



However, the move does not mean the termination of all activities in Hungary. 



The support of numerous non-governmental organizations, such as the Central European University, will continue.



The press release states among other things:



Faced with an increasingly repressive political and legal environment in Hungary, the Open Society Foundations are moving their Budapest-based international operations and staff to Berlin.



Together with other international funders, Open Society will continue to support the important work of civil society groups in Hungary on issues such as arts and culture, media freedom, transparency, and education and health care for all Hungarians.



The decision to move operations out of Budapest comes as the Hungarian government prepares to impose further restrictions on nongovernmental organizations through what it has branded its “Stop Soros” package of legislation.



“The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union,” said Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations. 



“The so-called Stop Soros package of laws is only the latest in a series of such attempts. It has become impossible to protect the security of our operations and our staff in Hungary from arbitrary government interference.”



The legislation, invoking national security interests, would block any organization from advising or representing asylum seekers and refugees without a government license. The government has indicated that these new laws are intended to stop the work of leading Hungarian human rights organizations and their funders, including the Open Society Foundations. The Foundations will pursue all available legal avenues to defend the fundamental rights that are threatened by the legislation.



Over the past two years, the Hungarian government has spent more than 100 million euros in public funds on a campaign to spread lies about the Foundations and their partners. The government’s hate campaign has included propaganda posters and billboards, invoking anti-Semitic imagery from World War II, and a supposed “national consultation” attacking George Soros, founder and chair of the Open Society Foundations, and Hungarian human rights groups. 



Pro-government media recently began publishing false accusations about individual academics, civil society members, and Foundations staff. Those connected to Open Society have been targeted by clandestine and fraudulent recording efforts aimed at fueling the government’s misleading propaganda campaign.



The latest proposed legislation on nongovernmental organizations follows the passage of a 2017 law that imposed burdensome reporting requirements on Hungarian human rights and civil society groups receiving funding from abroad. This law has been challenged by the European Commission before the European Court of Justice as a breach of EU treaty law on the free movement of capital, and a violation of the freedom guaranteed by the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. 



Moving operations out of Budapest will have a significant impact on the more than 100 staff based there, most of whom are engaged in international grant making. Around 60 percent are Hungarian nationals, including several who have worked for the Open Society Foundations for more than a decade. The Foundations are taking appropriate steps regarding the safety and well-being of those affected by the office relocation.



The Open Society Foundations have a long legacy in Hungary, where Soros was born and where he began his philanthropy in Europe. He launched his first foundation in Hungary in 1984, using it to promote freedom of expression and thought during the last years of Communism, and then to support the transition to democracy. Within its first decade, Open Society funded milk for schoolchildren, brought equipment to hospitals, and helped the country’s poorest and most vulnerable.</s>After closing its Budapest office last month, Open Society, the purportedly philanthropic organization created to push a liberal, globalist political agenda espoused by billionaire investor George Soros, said Tuesday that it has officially pulled out of Hungary after accusing Prime Minister Viktor Orban of "repressing civil society," according to the WSJ.

"Faced with an increasingly repressive political and legal environment in Hungary, the Open Society Foundations are moving their Budapest-based international operations and staff to the German capital, Berlin," the group confirmed on Tuesday.

Patrick Gaspard, the president of the Open Society Foundations, lashed out at Hungary's government, accusing it of "denigrating and misrepresenting our work," while repressing civil society "for the sake of political gain."

Soros attributed his decision to leave Hungary, the country where he was born, to the ruling Fidesz party's push to pass a bill known as the "Stop Soros" plan. The bill would place new restrictions on non-governmental organizations found to be meddling in the country's political affairs. The billionaire investor has criticized the law as anti-Semitic.

Open Society previously said it will move its Hungary operations to Berlin.

Should the bill become law, it would require all NGOs which "support illegal immigration" to be register with the government, while any NGO that receives funding from abroad would need to pay a 25% tax. It would also force foreign citizens and Hungarian nationals who support illegal immigration to be subject to a restraining order which would require them to stay away from the country's border. "If Soros is found to have engaged in such activity, meaning he organizes illegal immigration, then the rules will apply to him," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said in February.

When OS first announced their withdrawal from Budapest last month, Prime Minister Orban responded with derision: "You might understand if I don’t cry my eyes out."

Orban has repeatedly criticized Open Society for pushing a pro-immigrant agenda that he believes is harmful to the country. Following Orban's landslide victory in elections earlier this year, Orban proclaimed that Soros wouldn't stop supporting opposition lawmakers until Fidesz had been defeated.

Hungary has been stepping up pressures on NGOs - not just Open Society, but also other organizations - since 2014, when a row with the Norwegian government led to Hungarian police raiding the offices of several aid groups, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Soros came to prominence and made his mark in the world in finance in the early 1990s when he broke the Bank of England by shorting the pound, leading to the collapse of the currency after the British government was forced to pull it from the Exchange Rate Mechanism.

Open Society was launched in 1979, with the first non-US-based office opening in Hungary in 1984. The group currently spends more than $940 million a year to support 26 regional and national offices. Late last year, Soros announced that he was dedicating the bulk of his eleven-figure fortune to Open Society.</s>According to reports, George Soros' Open Society Foundations will close their office in the Hungarian capital and move to Berlin.

"The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union," Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations, said.

Hungary is one of the most anti-immigrant EU member-states and has constantly clashed with the European Union over their contrasting stances on tackling the migrant crisis.

READ MORE: Hungary Will 'Tighten' Anti-Soros Bill, Submit to Parliament by June — Minister

In addition to supporting pro-immigrant causes, the billionaire has also donated funds to pro-EU groups, such as the Best for Britain group, which is campaigning against Brexit.

George Soros' Open Society Foundations operates more than 40 offices around the world.</s>Globalist billionaire George Soros’s international grantmaking network is closing its Hungary office and will relocate to Germany in response to the government’s crackdown on foreign-funded NGOs.

“Faced with an increasingly repressive political and legal environment in Hungary, the Open Society Foundations (OSF) are moving their Budapest-based international operations and staff to the German capital, Berlin,” the network confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.

The decision to shut down operations in Hungary comes as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “prepares to impose further restrictions on nongovernmental organisations through what it has branded its ‘Stop Soros’ package of legislation”, according to the statement.

Hitting out at the proposals, which would tax foreign NGO income and clamp down on so-called civil society efforts to promote illegal immigration, OSF President Patrick Gaspard blasted Budapest for “using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union” to “denigrate” and “repress” the group’s work.

As well as bemoaning “burdensome” transparency requirements on funding from abroad, the group registered its particular anger over measures in the package invoking national security interests, such as rules which would require NGOs working with asylum seekers to be licensed by the government.

“The Foundations will pursue all available legal avenues to defend the fundamental rights that are threatened by the legislation,” OSF said in the statement, vowing to continue the organisation’s work in Hungary through funding from the German capital.

When news of the foundation’s possible exit from Budapest emerged last month, Orbán remarked on public radio: “I think you will understand if I fail to cry over its decision to close the headquarters in our capital.”

“The fight against Soros, its liberal ideology, its initiatives on migrants, will continue wherever the foundations of its foundation are,” he told MR1.

Pointing to recent meetings in Brussels between the Hungarian-born financier and high-level EU representatives, the government has said it is “crystal clear” that Soros remains committed to subverting politics, including his goal of flooding Europe with third world migrants, despite a landslide victory for Fidesz earlier this year giving a massive mandate to the party to stop plans to make the nation “multicultural”.

Declaring an end to ‘the era of ‘liberal democracy’ in the inaugural speech of his new parliamentary term at the weekend, Orbán vowed to learn from the West’s mistakes in building a “21st Century Christian democracy which guarantees human dignity, freedom, and security, protects the equal rights of men and women [and] the model of the traditional family”.</s>The signboard of George Soros' Open Society Foundations (OSF) is seen in a building in Budapest, April 20, 2018.

George Soros’ Open Society Foundations will close their office in Budapest and move to the German capital of Berlin, the organization said on Tuesday, leaving what it called an increasingly repressive political and legal environment.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has blamed Soros, a Hungarian-born U.S. financier, for a host of ills and is planning to tighten a crackdown on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) under legislation dubbed the “Stop Soros” bill.

“The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union,” Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations, said in a statement.

A senior minister in Orban’s new government said on Monday that Hungary would tighten the bill on non-government groups following the ruling party’s big election victory last month, a move likely to dismay the European Union and rights groups.

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Open Society said it would continue to support the work of civil society groups in Hungary on issues such as human rights, arts and culture, media freedom, transparency, and education and health care.

It added, however, that it would “pursue all available legal avenues to defend the fundamental rights that are threatened by the legislation.”

The bill would allow the interior minister to ban any NGOs active in the immigration field deemed to pose a “national security risk.” It would also impose a 25 percent tax on foreign donations to NGOs that back migration.</s>The philanthropic foundation funded by the billionaire George Soros is to close its offices in Hungary, saying it can’t protect its own staff from the country’s government.

Open Society Foundations will move its international operations in Budapest to Berlin in Germany, according to a press release Tuesday.

“The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union,” said Patrick Gaspard, president of the Open Society Foundations.

The Hungarian government, led by the recently re-elected Viktor Orban, won a strong mandate by campaigning on the issue of migration, which included the promise of a “stop Soros” package.

Orban launched a nationwide television and billboard advertising campaign in July accusing Soros of devising Europe’s refugee crisis. Critics of Orban’s drive to condemn the 87-year-old investor said posters were not dissimilar to the anti-Semitic imagery of the 1930s, which portrayed Jews as political manipulators.
George Soros' Open Society Foundations announces that it is moving its operations in Budapest to Germany.