Czech Prince Calls Soros Best Hope for Eastern Europe Democracy
- Schwarzenberg says Orban is a nationalist who needs enemies
- Orban legislation threatens to close Soros-funded university
Karel Schwarzenberg.
Photographer: Radek Mica/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Eastern Europe still needs people like George Soros to prevent a slide back into the authoritarianism of the past, said Karel Schwarzenberg, a diplomat prince who’s known the financier for 30 years.
Schwarzenberg, who himself was exiled under communism, chided Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban for lashing out against Soros. Orban has accused the Budapest-born billionaire, who’s donated billions to undo the damage to countries during decades behind the Iron Curtain, of undermining democratically elected governments and encouraging Muslim immigration to Europe. Without Soros and his influence, eastern Europe would be “a lot poorer” and “stuck in Communist thinking,” Schwarzenberg said in an interview.