The European Commission is investigating a new Hungarian law on higher education that it fears could force the closure of the Central European University in Budapest. Hungary’s government has rejected calls to suspend the law, claiming that organizations backed by the Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros have “misled” international public opinion about the Central European University. In a statement the prime minister’s office said: “If the Soros university is driven by good intentions, it will be able to solve the problem.”
But the EC’s first vice-president Frans Timmermans isn’t backing down saying “We need to quickly complete a thorough legal assessment of its compatibility with the free movement of services and the freedom of establishment.”
Hungarian officials argue the law means the university would be treated in the same way as other higher education institutions in the country, with its status “unchanged”. But the CEU would be forbidden from offering US-accredited degrees – a crucial draw for foreign students. Its rector and president, Michael Ignatieff, has said the law would bring the CEU 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.
