Soros Retreats as Right Wing Gains in Europe.
2 min read
George Soros has been branded as a bogeyman by the right wing for backing liberal causes around the globe. That’s nowhere more true than in eastern Europe, where he has spent billions of dollars to promote democratic values following the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Now, it seems, he’s retreating.
His Open Societies Foundations, the massive philanthropy that controls most of the assets in his $25 billion family office, is preparing for a “radical shift” that will largely terminate funding in the European Union.
The decision made by his son, Alexander, who took over management of OSF in December, couldn’t come at a worse time for politicians and activists trying to stem the surge of populist forces across the continent.
In the EU’s ex-communist east, it’s hard to exaggerate the influence of Soros, a 93-year-old Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust and fled totalitarian rule to eventually become an American citizen.
OSF has spent more than $19 billion over the past three decades on programs ranging from protecting the rights of the Roma minority and migrants to supporting media freedom, monitoring corruption and strengthening the rule of law.
But as it prepares to cut back, nationalists and populists such as Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni to former Slovak Premier Robert Fico, who’s leading polls before next month’s elections, are making gains. And funding for groups pushing ultra-conservative agendas is rising.
Campaigns aimed at preventing gay marriage and bolstering anti-abortion initiatives received $707 million between 2009 and 2018, according to a European Parliament report. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, meanwhile, has poured $1.3 billion into a state foundation that promotes the agenda of his nationalist ruling Fidesz party.
OSF argues that it will continue to promote democracy in the region, particularly in countries that border the EU.
By Michael Winfrey wrote this story for Bloomberg.com
