Soros Open Society Foundation considers quitting Budapest

George Soros's Open Society Foundation is making contigency plans to close its Budapest office and move to Berlin in face of the Hungarian governments plans to ban its activities.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban wants to pass a so-called "stop Soros" law shutting down NGOs who support immigration.

"The government created an enemy figure out of George Soros, his foundations and all our employees," says CSABA CSONTOS, the Foundation's Communications Director. "I'm sure all our employees are as good citizens as anyone. But the hate campaign by the government has made our people enemies in their own country."
Defenders of OSF say that NGOs it supports help Hungarian society in many areas from healthcare to education.

Anett Csordas, the president of the Step by Step Foundation, says her NGO supports disabled people, for example helping parents to get benefits, fighting for disabled access on transport, and equal schooling for the disabled and mentally ill.

A survey of NGO activists showed that most felt intimidated in the current atmosphere says our Euronews correspondent and they say aid from one source is not enough. They hope for more support from the EU in the future.