Hungary set to criminalise helping migrants with ‘Stop Soros’ Bill
Viktor Orban ready to defy critics with controversial vote on World Refugee Day
Viktor Orban’s government enjoys a two-thirds majority and will easily pass the Bill. Photograph: Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images
Hungary is poised to pass a law on Wednesday to allow the imprisonment of people who help illegal migrants, ignoring criticism from the European Union, the UN refugee agency and NGOs, and a late plea from a major democracy watchdog.
On World Refugee Day, parliament is due to vote on the so-called Stop Soros Bill, which is named after George Soros, a liberal philanthropist whom Hungarian leader Viktor Orban accuses of plotting to overwhelm the EU with Muslim migrants.