How I became an agent of George Soros at Budapest Airport

My flight had just landed at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport on Saturday morning. I was arriving back in Budapest from the coastal town of Burgas (Bulgaria), after spending five insightful days exploring both the Romanian and Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, and beyond. After my Wizz Air flight landed, I made my way over to passport control at Terminal 2B. As most of our readers will know, at this time Romania and Bulgaria are not yet members of the European Union’s Schengen Area, which means that landing at Budapest Airport from these two countries still entails passport control.

I have dual citizenship (Canadian and Hungarian), but it was my Canadian passport that happened to be at hand, whereas my Hungarian one was buried somewhere in my fairly chaotic backpack. I handed the Hungarian border agent, a young man likely under 25 years of age, my passport and greeted him in Hungarian with “Jó napot kívánok!” (good day). He took my passport, passed it through a machine and inspected my entry and exit stamps. The only question he had for me, in Hungarian, was where I was coming from. I answered that I had arrived from Bulgaria. That was the extent of our exchange. He could see that I spoke some Hungarian, despite having a thoroughly English-sounding name and a Canadian passport, though he probably could not tell from those few words that I am fluent.

He leaned over to his colleague–an older female sitting directly next to him at the adjoining counter–and said: “Soros ügynök” (an agent of Soros). The female agent remained stone faced, offering no reaction, while a few seconds later my agent slapped my passport onto the counter and ushered me through without another word.

Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport – Terminal 2B

I cannot tell from this brief exchange if the young Hungarian passport control officer was merely making a joke at the fact that the paranoia of Soros agents hell-bent on destroying the Hungarian nation permeates Hungary today or if he seriously thought that I was an agent of the American-Hungarian billionaire. As a coincidence, however, the Hungarian government launched its newest billboard campaign in Budapest the day before, plastering the city in signs that show Mr. Soros with a sinister smile and with the words: “Let’s not let Soros have the last laugh.” This billboard campaign follows a previous one declaring that Hungary is a “proud and strong European country,” and the one before that screaming from every street corner: “Let’s stop Brussels.”

Regardless of whether the young border agent at Ferihegy bought into this campaign and whether or not he actually thinks that I am an agent of Mr. Soros, I would expect a minimum of professionalism from Hungary’s border control officers–something that this agent in particular was unable to provide.

Hungary’s newest propaganda posters. Photo: C. Adam.

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