Hungary Threatens to Close University Funded by George Soros by Kieran Corcoran
https://heatst.com/world/hungary-threatens-to-close-university-funded-by-george-soros/
The government of Hungary is planning to pass new laws that would shut down a major university founded and funded by liberal billionaire George Soros.
Conservative leaders in the country want to implement extra regulation that would make it impossible for Soros’s Central European University (CEU) in Budapest to keep operating.
According to POLITICO, legislation proposed in the Hungarian parliament would revoke the institution’s ability to award degrees.
The move is part of a wider crackdown on the influence of foreign money in Hungarian politics.
Soros was born in Hungary, and spends significant sums on non-profits in the country, but is a naturalized US citizen.
CEU is technically an American institution, and is accredited to award degrees by the state of New York, despite having no physical presence there.
The proposed laws would ban institutions based outside the EU from issuing degrees unless they have a campus in their home territory as well.
A Hungarian government statement said: “Several institutions are acting unlawfully when they issue foreign university degrees here in Hungary while not conducting teaching in their country of origin, as prescribed by Hungarian regulations…
“The government will be making the Hungarian regulations stricter to include the fact that universities from outside the EU can only hold courses and issue degrees in Hungary on the basis of an international treaty.”
CEU officials claim the law has been written specifically to target them.
There is no love lost between Soros and Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, who come from opposite ends of the political spectrum.
The new proposals have been condemned by Soros’s Open Society Network, university officials and the local US Embassy.
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