George Soros pumps big bucks into his Polish organisation
The Polish Stefan Batory Foundation published its 2019 annual financial report in late August, revealing that the US stock market speculator was not exactly frugal when it came to providing financial support to the organisation. This summer, the Batory Foundation received wide media coverage for donating significant sums to LGBTQ groups. Earlier, the organisation had partnered with Soros s right-hand man, Gerald Knaus, to lobby against Poland.
The Batory Foundation was established by George Soros in the 1980s with the mission of building an open, democratic society in Poland, improving the quality of Polish democracy and developing international cooperation and solidarity. Soros s Open Society Foundations (OSF) still continues to be a major donor funding the NGO, which received OSF funding for several of its projects designed to discredit the Polish government in recent years. It should come as no surprise that the NGO has also played an active role in attacking Poland s rule of law.
The foundation published its 2019 annual financial report In late August, revealing that OSF in Switzerland had granted 512 thousand euros to the organisation. In addition, the Open Society Institute based in Budapest awarded the NGO nearly 278 thousand euros in funding, while the Foundation for the Promotion of Open Society in New York granted roughly 257 thousand euros. Berlin-based Transparency International also appears in the list of donors. This organisation also enjoys George Soros s fiscal support as it received nearly 498 euros through the Foundation Open Society Institute, as shown in last year s financial report.
In 2018, George Soros and his network pumped generous amounts into the Batory Foundation. Data shows that the organisation received 243 thousand euros from OSF in Switzerland, 261 thousand euros from the Open Society Institute in Budapest, and 243 thousand from the Foundation for the Promotion of Open Society in New York. Transparency International in Berlin contributed to financing the NGO with nearly 55 thousand euros.
The Batory Foundation has awarded good chunks of money to various LGBTQ groups, Polish news portal Wpolityce.pl reported in the summer.
Allegedly, an organisation called Citizens of Poland Foundation was granted 6,750 euros to organise peaceful demonstrations. Lambda Association received a similar sum to help people who faced discrimination because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
Batory Foundation has also teamed up with Gerald Knaus s organisation, the European Stability Initiative (ESI), which also crops up on George Soros s payroll.
ESI published its second study on the Polish rule of law on 22 March 2019, which it presented in Brussels on 20 March. The study criticised the disciplinary system created as part of the country s judicial reforms and questioned the independence of Polish judiciary.
The European Commission launched an inquiry into Poland s judicial reforms in 2016 and decided to launch an Article 7 procedure against Poland on 20 December, 2017, which could eventually lead to the suspension of the country s voting rights in the EU. The EC took issue with the Supreme Court Act, which was to reduce the retirement age for Supreme Court judges from 70 to 65. The law was eventually amended by the Polish government.
A study by ESI published in March last year examines another area of judicial reform. It claims that the establishment of disciplinary chambers violates the independence of the Court, leading the lobby organisation sponsored through Soros s foundation to call on the European Commission to launch an infringement procedure against Poland.
The European Stability Initiative has partnered with the Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland to prepare the 16-page document. ESI founder Gerlad Knaus and Adam Bodnar, an expert at the Bathory Foundation, presented their position in Brussels together.
The ESI and the Bathory Foundation called on the European Commission to launch infringement proceedings against Poland for breach of the rule of law. The document warned that reforms by the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party were dangerous for the EU.
It appears that a part of the EU s procedures are generated by Soros s organisations. Former Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz contended that Brussels was attacking the Polish government because of its anti-immigration stance.
Although the Soros-organisations attacking Poland talk about defending the Polish rule of law, the fact of the matter is that the Bathory Foundation – in conjunction with numerous NGOs – has worked in recent years to prepare the Poles for receiving migrants. They held various sensitising and tolerance-enhancing trainings and attempted to paint a positive image of migration through thier various campaigns.
Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet presents the activities of Soros s right-hand man in a series of articles, as Hungary has also made it onto Mr Knaus s list of targets.
