Hungarian law limiting CEU unjustifiable?

Viktor Orbán’s government introduced lex CEU in 2017, a piece of legislation that made it illegal for foreign colleges based in Hungary to operate if they did not also have a campus in their home country, reports The Pie News. The law used in Hungary to bar the Central European University from operating there has been termed a “disproportionate restriction” and an exercise in “arbitrary discrimination” that “cannot be justified” by advocate general Juliane Kokott of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

CEU is backed by billionaire George Soros – whose views on migrants and refugees in Europe have led to clashes with Orbán and his government – and formerly offers US-accredited degrees in Budapest without having a campus in the US. It also introduced requirements that those from countries outside the EEA had an international treaty with Hungary.

Since January 2019, the university has been unable to offer its US-accredited courses in Hungary and has instead opened a campus in Vienna, which will begin accepting students this autumn. It was the only university in the country impacted by the legislation. “The Advocate General’s opinion affirms, in every detail, the case that CEU has been making since lex CEU was passed in April 2017. We now await the final judgment of the Court itself, which is expected in the fall,” said CEU in a statement.