Hungary’s president signs law that could oust Soros-founded college

Hungary’s president late on Monday signed legislation on foreign universities that could force a top international school founded by American financier George Soros out of the country, triggering a fresh protest in Budapest against the move.

Tens of thousands of Hungarians had rallied on Sunday in one of the biggest demonstrations against right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s seven-year-old rule, denouncing a law that critics and opposition parties say targets the Central European University (CEU) set up by Soros, a Hungarian-born global campaigner for liberal “open society.”

Late on Monday, hundreds of protesters walked to the state radio office, in a spontaneous rally, and put up a European Union flag on the building, according to a video posted on local website Index. Protesters faced a line of police and Index said police used paprika spray on them. The protest ended about 0020 GMT on Tuesday.

Another protest is scheduled for Wednesday.

Policemen block Hungarian Parliament entry in Budapest as people protest against the Bill. Source: Reuters/Bernadett Szabo.

More than 500 leading international academics, including 17 Nobel Laureates, have come out in support of CEU, founded in Budapest in 1991 after the collapse of communism, saying it was one of the pre-eminent centres of thought in Hungary.

President Janos Ader, Orban’s long-time political ally, said the legislation did not infringe academic freedom or international laws and urged the government to hold talks with universities.

“It is the interest of all of us the value created at foreign universities in Hungary in the past years should continue and accumulate further. Academic work should continue undisturbed,” Ader told state news agency MTI.

CEU said in a statement it was willing to negotiate with the government to find a solution to enable it to stay in Budapest, but that academic freedom was “not negotiable.”

Past 1am and hundreds of young people marching in central Budapest to protest Orban government #Hungary #CEU pic.twitter.com/D8CSrDgy3C

— Lili Bayer (@liliebayer) April 10, 2017

“The legislation constitutes a premeditated political attack on a free institution that has been a proud part of Hungarian life for a quarter of a century,” the statement said. “We will oppose this legislation to the full extent of the law.”

Orban, who faces elections in 2018, is not expected to backtrack on the legislation as it constitutes a major plank of his political strategy defending national interests against what his government calls foreign meddling in Hungarian affairs.

Orban, whose Fidesz party has a firm lead in opinion polls, has often vilified Soros, whose ideals are squarely at odds with the Hungarian premier’s view that European culture is under an existential threat from migration and multiculturalism.

People protest against the Bill that would undermine CEU in Budapest. Source: Reuters/Bernadett Szabo.Orban told Parliament on Monday there was a “disinformation campaign” under way against Hungary similar to the criticism it received from fellow European Union countries over its tough line against refugees and migrants.

“The government does not close down any universities and does not close down CEU either … The aim of the government is to ensure all universities are governed by the same rules and there should not be privileges,” he said.

The new law requires foreign universities to have campuses both in Budapest and their home country. The CEU operates in Budapest but is the only international college with no branch outside Hungary.

#Hungary at turning pt. If #Orban shuts down #ceu no stopping total power grab. #istandwithCEU https://t.co/hK4gm3cnVJ via @POLITICOEurope

— David Baer (@h_david_baer) April 11, 2017

CEU has said its dual United States-Hungarian identity permitted it to comply with both Hungarian and US laws and award both Hungarian and US-accredited degrees. It has said it is committed to staying in Hungary.

After a similar protest a few years ago against a government plan to tax Internet traffic, Orban scrapped the move. But the situation with foreign universities is different, said Attila Juhasz, a political analyst at think tank Political Capital.

“This is a long-form strategy they (Fidesz) want to maintain until the elections, so it is much more difficult to backtrack on this,” Juhasz said. “This is not just about CEU, this all fits into the campaign against Soros.

“This is part of the political ideology that is a foundation stone of Orban’s system – national interests against foreign interests.”

Orban’s right-wing government has been tightening up on dissent in other ways as well, proposing tighter rules on non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which will have to register with authorities if they have a yearly foreign income of 7.2 million forints (US$25,000).

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