US State Department tries to save Soros University in Hungary

Not long ago, the BBC reported on the Soros funded university being threatened with closure by new legislation from the Hungarian government, as the CEU was established and registered in New York State.

Students and staff at the Central European University (CEU) in Hungary were protesting against what they say are government plans to close it down, but Hungary’s president, János Áder, nevertheless signed the measures into law the following day.

One protester, Miklos Lipkovszky-Barna, told the New York Times that foreign NGO’s needed to stay in the country.

The government says the CEU and other foreign-funded universities are operating outside the law, and that the new legislation aims to create a proper legal footing.

The university says new legislation proposed by Viktor Orban’s Fidesz government makes it impossible for it to function. While the European commission did not go that far, the US State Department has called on Hungary to suspend the law.

Education Secretary Laszlo Palkovics said the proposed legislation followed a review of 28 foreign universities operating in Hungary, including the CEU in Budapest. “This is not an anti-CEU investigation and not against Mr Soros,” he said.

But according to the British Express, Hungary’s top education official, Zoltan Balog, reportedly said: “We are committed to use all legal means at our disposal to stop pseudo-civil society spy groups such as the ones funded by George Soros.”

The CEU rector and president, Michael Ignatieff, has said the law would bring the university under government control, giving officials the power to deny work permits to some non-EU teachers and restrict the university’s ability to choose its students.

The university has become a platform for pro-immigration lobbies, globalists and interventionists

The Hungary-born billionaire founded the university in 1991 and continues to fund it, and his venture is supported by the US State Department:

Press Statement

Mark C. Toner
Acting Spokesperson

Washington, DC
March 31, 2017

The United States is concerned about legislation proposed by the Government of Hungary on March 28th that imposes new, targeted, and onerous regulatory requirements on foreign universities. If adopted, these changes would negatively affect or even lead to the closure of Central European University (CEU) in Budapest.

CEU is a premier academic institution accredited in the United States and Hungary, with staff and students from over 100 countries. It has strengthened Hungary’s influence and leadership in the region through its academic excellence and many contributions to independent, critical thinking.

We urge the Government of Hungary to avoid taking any legislative action that would compromise CEU’s operations or independence.