Central European University

“The Soros-funded Democrat front-groups continue to attempt to interfere in the election and deny President Trump his rightful place on the ballot,” a spokesperson for the Trump Campaign said in a statement

American billionaire and philanthropist George Soros is handing over control of his empire of foundations, valued at $25 billion, to his son Alexander Soros, the Wall Street Journal reported.

George Soros, who made a billion dollars "betting" against the British pound, said earlier that he did not want his foundation to be taken over by any of his five children.
However, he appointed Alexander as director of one of the world's richest philanthropic foundations.
"He deserved it," said Soros, whose fortune is estimated at $6.7 billion.

Orban reiterated his government's narrative that Hungary was in chaos before he took over in 2010. He paid a backhanded tribute to George Soros, saying that if the Hungarian-born US billionaire "had not launched his migration program, we would never have made it into the headlines".

The IPI report, titled "Hungarian Capital in Foreign Media. Three Strategic Models of Influencing the Neighbourhood", includes articles examining how, where and why Hungary has invested in foreign media in recent years.

Balazs Furjes, state secretary for the development of Budapest, countered by pointing out that at least Orban speaks good English, while Karacsony still has to give interviews to the foreign media via an interpreter and cannot communicate with counterparts at international conferences due to a lack of basic language skills.

George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, in Brussels, Belgium, 27 April 2017. EPA-EFE/OLIVIER HOSLET

Is there any truth in all this, Deutsche Welle asks in the text "George Soros, the ruler from the shadows?"

Experts on the Western Balkans, as well as international law and civil society figures, took to social media to voice their concerns on Tuesday after the new European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, announced Hungary's Laszlo Trocsanyi as her proposed Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Policy.

The academics, however, say it is simply the latest move in a Fidesz strategy to rein in Hungary's intellectuals and stifle free, particularly critical, thought.

The battle over the academy began a year ago, and is nearing its denouement.