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Griff Witte
Correspondent focused on Europe and with extensive experience in the Middle East and South Asia
BERLIN – The right-wing government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a renowned university, announced Thursday that he would be forced to leave the country, his home for a quarter of a century, unless he reaches an agreement to stay open on December 1st. .
The announcement by Central European University (CEU) President Michael Ignatieff gives these two parties a little over a month to end a long-running drama that is now considered a critical test of academic freedom.
"Even at this late hour, we are still looking for a solution allowing us to stay in Budapest," Ignatieff said at a press conference held Thursday. "We want to stay here."
But Ignatieff also said that the government had told US Ambassador David Cornstein that he had no plans to sign the necessary documents to allow the university to stay , suggesting that the chances of a breakthrough are far away.
The CEU is accredited in both Hungary and the United States, and the US government has made maintaining the opening of the university in Budapest a priority.
In a statement, Cornstein said Thursday that he thought "that a solution is still possible".
Students are seen inside CEU. (Bernadett Szabo / Reuters)
"There is a small window to solve this problem, but it has to happen quickly," he said. "I'm working with both parties to continue negotiations and find an acceptable resolution by December 1."
Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs described the university's delay as a "political bluff".
"The government will not comment on the cliffs," he said.
No major university has ever been forced to leave a Member State of the European Union. But the status of CEU in Hungary has been in limbo for over a year.
The university, founded by the American-Hungarian philanthropist George Soros, has become a favorite punching bag for Orban, as he has demonized the 88-year-old at the center of his political campaigns.
Michael Ignatieff, rector of the CEU, said at a press conference Thursday: "We want to stay here." (Bernadett Szabo / Reuters)
Last year, the Orban-dominated parliament passed a law aimed at jeopardizing the CEU's status in Hungary: it stipulated that foreign universities could not enroll students in Hungary unless they offered course in their respective countries. In response, CEU launched an academic program at Bard College in New York.
But the Hungarian government refused to officially recognize this arrangement. With the law supposedly coming into effect on Jan. 1, the university announced Thursday that it should enroll students on a new campus in Vienna, unless something changes by December.
Orban's refusal to yield on the issue is an act of defiance against his putative allies in the West.
The US urged Orban to grant a stay to the UEC, as did a bipartisan group of lawmakers at Capitol Hill. Although President Trump has partnered with Orban to defame Soros, his administration has played an active role in defending the university.
[[[[EU. Parliament votes to punish Hungary for its decline on democracy]
Unlike the Obama administration, which avoided Orban, Trump showed his willingness to dialogue with the Hungarian leader. The two men spoke by telephone in June and Orban's foreign minister was welcomed to the State Department.
Orban, meanwhile, seemed to want a close relationship with Trump, whom he regards as an ideological fellow. With the administration suspended at the prospect of a possible meeting at the White House, Orban is at least urged to compromise on the university.
CEU, home to 1,500 graduate students, offers some of the best university programs in the world and its campus is an iconic presence in the heart of Budapest.
Soros founded the CEU in 1991, shortly after the fall of communism in Hungary, with the aim of contributing to the training of the next generation of scholars, scientists and leaders at a time when Central and Eastern Europe Eastern Europe was passing to democracy.
But Hungary has led the region in recent years to move away from liberal democracy to what Mr Orban has called "illiberal democracy". Elected in the spring for his fourth term, the Prime Minister has consolidated political and economic control and has no serious rival.
In July, he planned a cultural transformation for Hungary – and for Europe – in which the ideology of multiculturalism and the "adaptable family models" would both be ruled out.
If CEU left, it would be the second institution linked to Soros to announce an exit from the country this year. The Open Society Foundations, Soros' main philanthropic project, settled in Berlin over the summer, with officials stating that they could no longer guarantee the safety of their staff as part of a smear campaign led by the Government in Hungary.
Gergo Saling in Budapest contributed to this report.
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