EU court rules against Hungary law targeting Soros-funded university
By Benjamin Novak
BUDAPEST — The European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday (6) that Hungary had violated EU rules by changing legislation in 2017 that effectively expelled a US university founded by billionaire financier George Soros from the country.
“The conditions introduced by Hungary to enable foreign higher education institutions to carry out their activities in its territory are incompatible with EU law,” the court’s ruling said.
The decision was the latest effort by the European Union to curb growing authoritarianism by the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban but is unlikely to have much impact on the ground in Hungary.
The ruling leaves no room for appeal and requires Orban’s government to change the legislation to come in line with EU laws. If Hungary does not amend the law, the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, could request that the high court impose fines on the Hungarian government until it does so.
But the expelled institution, Central European University, is unlikely to restore its former setup in Hungary. Michael Ignatieff, the university’s rector, has said that it will be anchored in Vienna, where it has moved the bulk of its operations.
Founded and endowed by Soros after the fall of communism, Central European University was a hub of liberal thought in a region long under authoritarian rule. But after Orban’s government amended Hungary’s Act on Higher Education to force the university to meet an array of new requirements, Central European University found itself in legal limbo.
The new legislation essentially stripped the university of its ability to grant US diplomas in Hungary, thereby largely preventing it from being able to operate within the country. Central European University currently conducts only a few academic and archiving activities in Budapest.
Orban, whose coalition has controlled Hungary’s government since 2010, was a rising liberal politician during the country’s democratic transition in the early 1990s. He even received a scholarship from Soros in 1989 to study at the University of Oxford. But his political ideology turned to the far right over the next three decades.
When he assumed power in 2010, he and his allies overhauled the country’s democratic framework, rewriting election laws to favour their party and consolidating control over the courts and much of the news media. The restructuring has extended into education and culture, and the state’s huge media system fuels conspiracy theories and far-right nativist messaging.
-New York Times