Foreign ministry sees opportunity for Hungary-US agreement on CEU

Budapest, May 19 (MTI) – Hungary could negotiate an agreement with the US administration concerning Budapest’s Central European University, the press chief of the Hungarian foreign ministry said on Friday.

Tamás Menczer argued that there were three such agreements in effect between the two countries, and voiced incomprehension at the US position that the federal government had no authority over education cooperation accords. The press chief added that the Hungarian government was waiting for its US counterpart to name a chief negotiator in the CEU case.

Earlier in the day, the portal PestiSracok.hu reported that Hungary had signed intergovernmental agreements on higher education cooperation in 1977, 1998, and in 2007. The portal dismissed a position held by CEU and US diplomats in Budapest that “no intergovernmental agreement is possible on higher education”.

In April, Hungary’s parliament passed a package of amendments to the higher education law that the CEU, founded by US financier George Soros, has said would make its continued operation in Budapest impossible.

The law stipulates that foreign universities operating in Hungary must also pursue educational activities in their country of origin and an intergovernmental contract should be signed to regulate their operations.

Source: MTI