CEU

CEU to close its door for good in Budapest

CEU, building, architecture

On Thursday, the CEU informed its former students that the university council will initiate the revocation of the Central European University’s licence. Simultaneously, research institutes in Budapest will remain operational, and non-degree courses will be retained.

CEU, building, architecture
Photo: www.facebook.com/ceuhungary

According to Népszava, the university council indicated in a letter to former students on Thursday that it would begin the process of revoking the institution’s licence. The Hungarian Academy Staff Forum wrote in a Facebook post, that this decision was justified by the fact that CEU has not admitted students to its Hungarian-accredited programmes for a long time, and therefore cannot operate as a university in the capital any longer.

“CEU has not accepted students into its Hungarian-accredited degree programmes for several years, and the last students enrolled in such programmes will graduate in July 2024. Therefore, CEU does not meet the conditions of a university in Budapest, and as such, our Board of Trustees has decided to initiate the closing of our Hungarian university entity, Közép-európai Egyetem, at the end of the academic year,” the post on social media stated. They also mentioned that the Orbán government’s efforts to expel the university from Budapest have succeeded, as CEU will cease its higher education activities in Hungary.

However, the research institutes in Budapest will remain, and other non-degree programmes will also be maintained. Népszava adds that the decision is understandable since neither American nor Hungarian education has been provided in Budapest for years, making it unreasonable to maintain an institution that does not offer such education from an institutional standpoint.

CEU decided to move most of its courses to Vienna

The university council had prepared a development plan for the future of CEU, proposing the permanent departure of the institution. Although a petition was launched against this move, it was unsuccessful. The accreditation of the US course was withdrawn earlier from the Budapest site, and now the Hungarian course accreditation is also being withdrawn.

The university was targeted by the Orbán government at the beginning of 2017, for political reasons, as part of the campaign against George Soros, with the amendment of the Higher Education Act. This amendment stipulated that a foreign higher education institution operating in Hungary must also provide education in its home country.

Although the institution signed a cooperation agreement with Bard College to start a course at the US-based institution of higher education in New York State, the Orbán government refused to recognise this. As a result, CEU decided to move its US-accredited courses from Budapest to Vienna.

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CEU is launching free university courses in Hungary!

CEU Hungary

The Central European University (CEU) opened its newest campus in Vienna just two years ago. However, the institution would like to keep its presence in Hungary as well. They aim to achieve this through the so-called Bibó István Free University (Szabad Egyetem), founded by the lecturers of the university.

As recently announced, the school will be launching three new courses, all of which will be in Hungarian. They have one thing in common – all will revolve around the topic of public life, Telex reports.

Democratic Innovations: Communal Opportunities and Tools for Better Governance

This course focuses on the democratic involvement of societies in everyday politics. Some of the most important topics include the democratisation of parties and the direct involvement of citizens in political decision-making. Throughout the lessons the students will try to answer these questions, as well look at democratic innovations and tools of participatory policy making. The lecturers include several high-profile experts from different universities, but Gergely Karácsony, the Mayor of Budapest will also make an appearance. The best-performing students will even receive an opportunity to participate in a traineeship program as well. The course takes place at the Budapest building of CEU at 15 Nádor Street, in room 105, but joining online is also possible. Unfortunately, this course has launched already on the 27 of March, but you can still register for future lessons on the official page.

Empty Words and Concepts – Seven Journeys in the Forest of the History of Political Ideas

This course includes 7 seminars, throughout which the students will familiarise themselves with the evolution and development of modern political ideas, ideologies and concepts, from ancient times to modernity. Some highlights include such questions as when the modern understanding of democracy and rule of law came to materialise, why the separation of branches of power is necessary, or what the difference between liberals and conservatives is. Throughout the lessons, such themes will be discussed by 2-3 experts, with the possibility of questions from the audience. The moderator of the discussions is historian Rudolf Paksa. The course starts on 20 April and will be held at the Budapest building of CEU, in room 104. Online participation is available. For more information and registration, check out the website of the seminar.

Handicapped People in Our Society: Systemic Disadvantages and Supporting Factors

Throughout the course, experts, researchers and handicapped participants will talk about and focus on the social and historical aspects of living with a disability. They will introduce the main concepts and their domestic and international backgrounds to the students and then initiate a discussion with the audience. The course is open to anyone, as the learning material was gathered to guarantee proper participation for anyone interested in any of the topics mentioned. Reading material is also provided to the students. The first seminar will take place on 27 April, at the Budapest building of CEU, in room 105. Just like in the case of the two other courses, the opportunity for online involvement is also available. If interested, you can register for the course at the following link.

 

Mayor of Budapest responds to Viktor Orbán’s comment on CEU’s expolsion

Gergely Karácsony Budapest Mayor

The Central European University building in Budapest has not disappeared but education activities are not held there and students need to go to Vienna to get a CEU degree, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony said on Sunday.

Karácsony reacted to a letter by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán published on his website on Saturday stating that those that claim the government had forced CEU to close down were not telling the truth considering that the CEU campus hosted an international conference open to the press earlier this week.

Orbán does not know “the difference between a building and an institution”, Karácsony said on Facebook.

Viktor Orbán: Those campaigning with CEU’s expulsion were not telling truth

“The building has not disappeared from earth, but this does not mean that it can host education activities, thanks to legal regulations introduced by the Fidesz boys,” he said.

In addition to conferences held in the CEU building in Budapest, research activities are under way because those have not been banned. However, education activities have been restricted, Karácsony said.

Orbán: Spiritual and political differences mounting between central Europe and western Europeans

He said that universities around Hungary would be “taken back” from the foundations they have been transferred to, a student city will be built in Budapest, and “the persecution” of CEU will be stopped.

Source: MTI

Viktor Orbán: Those campaigning with CEU’s expulsion were not telling truth

orbán in shadow

Those who have been campaigning on the premise that the Central European University (CEU) has been shuttered have clearly not been telling the truth, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his latest “samizdat” letter published also in English on his website on Saturday.

In the letter, entitled The persecuted, expelled university in Budapest, Orbán said: “The time is out of joint! A conference has been held in the CEU building on Nádor utca, a major street in the heart of Budapest”.

He said he had been hearing for years “from liberal politicians and their supporters in the media that the Hungarian government has closed down the Central European University and driven it out of Budapest”.

Making reference to news reports, Orbán said that on Thursday and Friday an international conference open to the press was held at CEU’s Budapest campus which was attended by prominent representatives from liberal academia and political life.

Orbán seen entrenching right-wing dominance through Hungarian university reform – Reuters

“How could such a thing happen? Clearly it is because those who have been campaigning on the premise that the university has been shuttered have not been telling the truth,” the prime minister said.

“We Hungarians are not surprised: we know how George Soros and his team work. The Hungarian speculator has always been adept at making actions against his business enterprises look like appalling social injustices – or even wicked anti-Semitic attacks against him personally,” he said.

He lamented asking the question “what could have been in the minds of the illustrious academics, politicians and intellectuals who attended and spoke at this conference?”.

Orbán: Spiritual and political differences mounting between central Europe and western Europeans

“How did they reconcile their appearance at the university with the lie that the CEU had been run out of Budapest by the Hungarian government? I wonder how these academics, professionals and politicians feel now, having lost all professional credibility after swallowing the lie propagated by George Soros and his global network?”, Orbán said. He added that “this is embarrassing – very embarrassing” and that “perhaps someone should organise a conference on that subject at the CEU campus in Budapest”.

He said Hungary has been attacked over the issue of the Soros university because it refused “to allow the billionaire speculator to continue his abuse of power”.

“In the 1990s, Soros’s loyal ally Bálint Magyar – education minister in a governing coalition of liberals and ex-communists – introduced a rule that gave the Soros University an unfair competitive advantage over Hungarian universities. We closed this loophole by requiring that all foreign universities with a presence in Hungary operate under the same conditions and comply with Hungary’s higher education legislation. With one exception,

all such universities fulfilled those regulatory conditions without any problems. That single exception was the Soros University.

Minister: there were no disagreements between Pope Francis and PM Orbán

For its founder there was greater benefit to be gained by crying wolf and organizing an international campaign against Hungary than by simply giving up the privileges he had acquired,” Orbán said.

Orbán concluded his paper providing “a shortlist for the biggest liar and lie” that includes Guy Verhofstadt, former leader of the EP’s parliamentary group of Liberals, saying that “Europe is disgraced”. Orbán further mentioned green MEP Judith Sargentini, who said in a short film she had produced on Hungary that “the Central European University is forced out of the country”. At third place, he mentioned the European Commission’s 2020 country report on Hungary which referred to “the end of the Central European University’s academic activities in Hungary”.

“The true disgrace for the whole European Union is that these demonstrably false allegations are being used as the basis for EU legal proceedings,” Orbán said, adding the paper with the question “Quo vadis Europa?”.

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Reuters Institute: Most Hungarians do not trust the news

news

Hungary has the lowest trust in the news in the region: only 30% of Hungarians trust the news, says a recent Reuters Institute survey.

According to ATV, the Reuters Institute of Oxford University has been researching the trust in media products for 10 years now. Their Digital News Report examined media trends based on a survey of 92,000 residents in 46 countries, says Telex. As in previous studies, CEU’s Institute for Democracy was the Hungarian partner for the research.

Éva Bognár, a researcher at the CEU Institute, told ATV that among the countries where the public’s confidence in the news was measured,

Hungary finished in last place in the region, with 30%.

Telex writes that nearly half of the total sample (44%) claimed to trust the news “most of the time”. In the Nordic countries, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, trust is typically higher. Finland is leading the list with 65%. Confidence in the news remains the lowest in the United States (29%).

The coronavirus increased both people’s demand for reliable news and confidence in the news in most countries. While the international average rise was 6%, in Hungary, it was a modest 3%. During the last 10 years, Hungary’s percentage has slowly decreased. According to Bognár, it would be especially important for people to trust the news in a crisis like the coronavirus pandemic. The survey showed that people turned to traditional news sources and, in general, trust in the public service media was rising.

Hungarians’ trust in the public service media, however, is very low.

The report also suggests that the pro-government press in Hungary received significant funding through government advertising spending, while the market’s advertising spending fell by 38% compared to last year.

According to the Reuters Institute, due to the restrictions, the situation of the print media became particularly difficult, and more and more press products turned to digital subscriptions. The majority of Hungarians read the news on their mobile phones, and paid content is becoming more and more popular: now 14% of Hungarians pay for online newspapers.

Generation Z hardly consumes news from traditional sources, but the role of TikTok has increased, claims Telex. On the ‘old-fashioned’ social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, journalists and traditional media sources tend to dominate the news, though most participants of the research have identified Facebook as the number one source of fake news.

Bognár says people have a relatively good opinion of the online portals: 24.hu and Hvg top the list of Hungarian press products. Interestingly, Telex finished fourth despite being a relatively new player in the media market. The most important event in the Hungarian media scene, according to Bognár, was the change of ownership and editorial staff of Index. As a result of last year’s events, the reliability of Index in the eyes of readers has fallen by 7%.

Antony Blinken
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Orbán seen entrenching right-wing dominance through Hungarian university reform – Reuters

orbán radio

Hungary is set to pass legislation on Tuesday setting up foundations to take over the running of universities and cultural institutions in a move critics say extends the ideological imprint of the ruling right-wing government.

Currently, most Hungarian universities are owned by the state but have a large amount of academic autonomy.

The bill, drafted by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s deputy, says they need to be privatised because modern conditions require a “re-thinking of the role of the state” and the foundations will manage institutions more efficiently.

Orbán’s government will appoint boards of trustees to run the foundations, which will control substantial real estate assets and benefit from billions of euros worth of EU funds, while also having considerable influence over universities’ everyday life.

The government will endow several of the foundations using its stakes in blue chip companies MOL and drug maker Richter. It will also allocate over 1 trillion forints ($3.3 billion) worth of EU recovery funds for the revamp of universities.

Orbán, who came to power in 2010, has tightened his control over much of Hungarian public life, such as the media, education and scientific research, as he seeks to reshape national culture. Orbán set out the changes in a speech in 2018 when he envisioned embedding his political system in a new “cultural era”.

His government, promoting what it calls Christian, conservative values, has strongly opposed immigration and limited gay adoption and legal recognition of transgender people.

Critics say the new legislation was the next move in extending its ideological influence and power grab.

“This is part of the ideological war that Orbán declared two years ago,”

said Attila Chikán, a professor at the Corvinus economics university in Budapest and a former minister in Orbán’s first government in 1998.

“They make it no secret: they want to assume intellectual power after political and economic power.”

He noted the move came after the government boosted controls over academic research and forced a top liberal school, Central European University, to move to Vienna in 2019.

The bill, to be voted on in parliament on Tuesday, says “the fundamental expectation is that the foundations actively defend the survival and well-being of the nation and the interests of enriching its intellectual treasures.”

The foundations running some of the cultural institutions would have patriotic tasks such as “strengthening national identity.”

The opposition said with supporters of Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party, and even government ministers, sitting on the boards, Orbán could retain a degree of control over universities beyond the 2022 election and could undermine their autonomy.

Gergely Arató, an MP from opposition party Democratic Coalition said

the bill would take away “the property, traditions, community, knowledge” of Hungarian people and give them to government allies controlling the universities.

The government says universities would benefit from the new model. István Stumpf, government commissioner in charge of the changes, declined an interview with Reuters.

In October, students at Hungary’s University of Theatre and Film Arts blockaded their school in a row over the imposition of a government-appointed board that protesters said undermined the school’s autonomy.

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Hungary plans to join Eurasian Development Bank in eastward diplomatic push

nur-sultan

Hungary plans to join the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) to open up new financing sources for Hungarian companies in Asia, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday during a visit to Kazakhstan, according to his official Facebook page.

The move is part of the “eastern opening” diplomacy of Hungary’s nationalist government that also includes forging close relations with China, which is building a major railway line connecting Budapest and Belgrade.

“This (joining the EDB) aims to open up new financing sources for Hungarian firms to help them be even more successful in Eurasian markets,” Szijjarto said.

The EDB, founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in 2006, aims to promote economic growth in its member states, extend trade ties among them and support Eurasian integration through investment.

It currently has six members, all former Soviet republics.

In another demonstration of Hungary’s eastward tilt, China plans to open a huge campus of the Shanghai-based Fudan University in Budapest within a few years, the first in the European Union.

On Tuesday, citing a government proposal,

Hungarian investigative website Direkt36 reported that the Fudan University campus would be built with a Chinese loan of more than 450 billion forints ($1.47 billion). Hungary will also contribute 100 billion forints to the project, it said.

Its costs will exceed the total funds Hungary’s government spent on higher education in 2019, Direkt36 said.

The government has not replied to Reuters’ emailed questions regarding the university project.

The Chinese railway project is part of Beijing’s One Belt, One Road initiative intended to open new foreign markets to Chinese firms.

Hungary, which has frequently clashed with the EU over media freedoms and its migration policy, has forced a leading university founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros to move most of its activities from Budapest to Vienna.

CEU student arbitrarily detained by Egyptian security forces

egyptian student detained

Ahmed Samir Abdelhay Ali (29) is a Master’s student in Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna. On February 1st 2021, he was detained by the Egyptian Security Forces after he was called into the Fifth Settlement Section Police Headquarters.

For five days, he was held without access to lawyers or his family. The police officially denied Ahmed was in custody and no contact was allowed.

On Feb 6th 2021, the State Security Prosecutor formally charged Ahmed with joining a terrorist organization, deliberately spreading false news and data, and use of a private account on the Internet to spread false news or data.

The prosecution has remanded him to pretrial detention in Case 65 of 2021. This detention has already been extended once without legal representation .

No details about the accusations have been specified. The charges are baseless.

Ahmed testified during the investigation with the SSSP (Supreme State Security Prosecution) that he was physically assaulted during interrogations with National Security Police. He alleged that he was severely beaten on his body and slapped on his face.

egyptian student detained

His academic work generally addresses women’s rights in Egypt with a focus on the history of reproductive rights. His main concern was protecting women’s reproductive rights and their access to legal and safe treatments in order to preserve their lives.

Ahmed’s case is the latest in a series of international students and researchers harassed, tortured, and falsely imprisoned by Egyptian authorities on trumped-up charges, including Patrick George Zaki, Walid al-Shobaky and Giulio Regeni.

Amnesty Austria has issued a petition asking for his immediate release.

So far, there were several other statements issued asking for his release, such as by Amnesty International, deeming him a Prisoner of Conscience, a shared statement from Egyptian Human Rights organisation And several others, Central European University, Amnesty MENA, Council for European Students, Egyptian Front for Human Rights, European Association of Social Anthropologists, American Anthropological Association, Forced Disappearance by the FORSEA, Europa Verdi, Austrian National Student Union, and AFTE have called for his release.

The case is still going on, with Ahmed’s family and friends hoping for his release.

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Mayor: Budapest would happily welcome the CEU and its students and teachers back – Reactions

CEU
Provisions in Hungary’s law on higher education that affect how foreign universities operate in the country breach EU law, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on today.

CEU head

CEU head Michael Ignatieff hailed the ECJ ruling as a major moral and legal victory for academic freedom. At a press conference held in Vienna, he said that a benchmark decision had been passed to reinforce legal protection for Europe’s free institutions. He welcomed that the ruling annulled Hungary’s “lex CEU” and restored the CEU’s freedoms. He added, however, that

the university would maintain its campus in Vienna, while plans concerning Budapest were yet to be finalised.

Socialists

István Hiller, Socialist deputy speaker of parliament, said he did not expect the ruling to change the situation, adding that “the government will stick to its point”. He said that a political decision had led to the contested legislation, and argued that

“the problem was not with the performance of the CEU but with the fact that it had been founded by George Soros”.

He insisted that issues around the university could only be resolved through a “political change”.

Budapest Mayor

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony said

the city would “happily” welcome the university and its students and teachers back.

“Today the European Court of Justice ruled that lex CEU breaches EU law and that it’s simply unacceptable in Europe,” Karácsony said on Facebook. “I am under no illusion as to whether the government will repent and invite CEU back but Budapest would happily welcome the university, its teachers and students back.”

Driving away the country’s most internationally renowned university was “one of the most outrageous government decisions of the last ten years”, the mayor said.

“The university’s move to Vienna made both the country and Budapest poorer and the capital’s previous leadership silently played along,” Karácsony said. “The government considered its deceitful propaganda more important than education and respecting academic freedom.”

CEU
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ECJ: Hungarian law on higher education breaches EU law – UPDATE

CEU, building, architecture

Provisions in Hungary’s law on higher education that affect how foreign universities operate in the country breach EU law, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Tuesday.

Hungary’s parliament amended the country’s law on higher education in 2017, obliging foreign universities that issue their own degrees in Hungary to carry out educational activities in their home countries, while also making their operations dependent on a bilateral agreement between the Hungarian government and the country in which the universities are based.

Later that year, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Hungary, saying the new regulations violated EU laws.

In its ruling, the court said the regulations unnecessarily curbed the institutes’ freedom of establishment and the free movement of services.

ceu bavaria agreement
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In its ruling, the court said the regulations unnecessarily curbed the institutions’ freedom of establishment and the free movement of services.

Justice Minister Judit Varga said in reaction to the ruling that

“applying double standards is unacceptable”, arguing that each university must observe effective regulations. Referring to the Central European University (CEU) founded by financier George Soros, which moved the bulk of its teaching to Vienna after the law was enacted, she said: “It is not possible to pass legislation which would benefit the Soros university more than Hungarian universities.”

Varga added, however, that the Hungarian government would, as always, abide by the court’s ruling.

The minister also said that “a dozen” foreign universities in Hungary were governed by the contested legislation, adding that “most of them had no problem” meeting its stipulations.

George Soros on turning 90, coronavirus, and Donald Trump

OSF George Soros

George Soros, one of the most well-known Hungarians from the past years, turned 90 this week. The Hungarian-American billionaire who rarely gives interviews but is active regarding social and political questions now talked about the coronavirus, the threats on open society, Donald Trump, and the weakness of the European Continent to an Italian magazine called La Repubblica.

Forbes reported that the 90-year-old Soros still plays tennis three times a week and considers the coronavirus epidemic the greatest tragedy and most threatening phenomenon since World War II. According to Soros, people have become uncertain and scared, and they act without common sense but with the knowledge that what they are doing is wrong.

Soros also expressed his thoughts on the difference between Europe and the United States.

I think Europe is very vulnerable, much more so than the United States. The United States is one of the longest-lasting democracies in history. But even in the United States, a confidence trickster like Trump can be elected president and undermine democracy from withinBut in the US you have a great tradition of checks and balances and established rules. And above all, you have the Constitution. So I am confident that Trump will turn out to be a transitory phenomenon, hopefully ending in November but until then he remains to be very dangerous,” reported Soros’s official website.

Soros continued by saying that the EUR 750 billion EU recovery fund has been one of the greatest ideas of the union. Soros thinks that “the EU took a very important positive step forward by committing itself to borrow money from the market on a much larger scale. But then several states, the so-called Frugal Five – the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark and Finland – managed to make the actual agreement less effective.”

The Hungarian-American billionaire is still active, although other news portals writing about his 90th birthday stated that he was already weak 11 years ago.

According to the American Forbes Magazine, Soros was the third person between 2014 and 2018 who donated the most amount of many to charities and other organisations, approximately $3.1 billion. Alongside his donations, he is also eager to fund a brand-new university after CEU.

  • Read the full interview HERE
  • More about George Soros HERE

Hungarian law limiting CEU unjustifiable?

CEU, building, architecture

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.

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“We will continue to maintain a vigorous public presence, with an Institute of Advanced Study, an Open Society Archives, a Democracy Institute, our cognitive science labs and teaching in our Hungarian accredited programs.” “At the same time, CEU will never allow the government to force us to abandon our home in Budapest.

While the opinion of the AG is not legally binding, the final judgment expected later this year by the Court will be. If its decision is in line with that of the AG, the government will be required to repeal lex CEU and allow the university to once again operate domestically.

“The AG’s recommendation does not change the university’s plans. Until the government withdraws the legislation, we have no choice but to proceed with plans to transfer all US degree instruction to Vienna,” the university added.

ceu bavaria agreement
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Hungarian teachers union protests against new curriculum promoting nationalist Ideology

school boys education

Protests by a teachers union began on Tuesday against a new school curriculum they say promotes nationalist agenda and curbs academic freedom, reports The New York Times. The new curriculum is designed by the ruling party Fidesz.

This is not the first time the party has restricted academic freedom. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences had funding withdrawn a few years back and Central European University is leaving the country. Prime Minister has often come under fire for a range of policies that the European Union and human rights groups consider to be harmful to democracy in Hungary.

The Ministry of Human Resources announced the National Fundamental Curriculum (NAT) on Friday, specifying in detail the required material for study in elementary and secondary schools. The human resources minister said on Monday Hungary had needed to update its school curriculum. A government spokesman said: “Hungary’s best experts prepared NAT after lengthy professional discussions.”

“Future generations can begin their lives leaning on a curriculum based on values and showing European, Hungarian values,” Miklos Kasler told state television.

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The Democratic Union of Teachers (PDSZ) called for protests against the changes, now cast in law. Teachers of history and literature issued separate statements complaining that the NAT favors nationalist authors and agendas.

The curriculum contains no mention of Hungary’s only Nobel-winning author, Imre Kertesz, who was honored in 2002 for his body of work on the human experience during the Holocaust but names among what it considers the 10 most important Hungarian authors Ferenc Herczeg, who was an ardent supporter of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

“This curriculum expects a constant declaration of moral, ideological views,” wrote Gyorgy Fenyo, deputy director of the Association of Literature Teachers. “It leaves no freedom for thought but dictates what (we are meant to) think.”

“It… can only serve as a curriculum of a dictatorship,” he added.

Teachers protesting began to post photos on social media with the #noNAT hashtag and slogans such as “I will not teach fascism”.

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Fidesz: Budapest mayor’s pact with V4 mayors ‘immigration alliance of liberal leftists’

v4 captial cities

Commenting on a recent pact signed by the mayors of the capital cities of the Visegrad Group countries in Budapest, the spokesman of the co-ruling Christian Democrats’ parliamentary group said the agreement amounted to “no more than a pro-migration alliance of liberal, left-wing politicians”.

Lőrinc Nacsa noted at a news conference that

Gergely Karácsony, the Mayor of Budapest, had signed the agreement at the campus of the Central European University, which he dubbed “the Soros University” after its founder, the billionaire George Soros.

Nacsa insisted that this location indicated that Soros, “an immigration billionaire”, was striving to gain power and influence in the V4 countries. Karácsony, he added, had “openly entered into this pro-migration alliance on behalf of Budapest”.

Karácsony, he said, had joined mayors who “want to implement Soros’s open society”.

Brussels, he insisted, had promised EU money to pay for a plan backed by Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the European Commission, “to welcome migrants to Budapest and other central European capitals”.

Read alsoMayors of V4 countries’ capitals sign “Pact of Free Cities”

CEU opens free courses in Hungarian-language

Although CEU opened its campus this year in Vienna, the internationally known university would like to keep its presence in Hungary. The educators of the institution established the Bilbó István Free University, wherein Hungarian-language students can learn about public life questions.

Index reported that the seed of this project was that many educators believed that in Hungary, there is no opportunity (or at least not that many) to talk about issues related to public life. It is also essential that everyone with different political, ethical and life views are welcomed to study at this university in the future.

They also stated that slowly, the world’s new generation grows up with the knowledge of immoderate communication about these issues. This newly established institution would like to prevent this factor.

CEU‘s new university offers courses for everyone interested in political activism and keens on learning about political, economic and social questions related to the European Union and Hungary.

In the autumn semester, three seminars will educate students about the Treaty of Trianon and the freedom of the media in Central-Europe and Hungary. Every university teacher comes with a different political view, and they expect applications of students with different perspectives as well.

See more details in Hungarian-language HERE

Featured image: www.facebook.com/ceuhungary

Soros to give even more money to the CEU – video

He wrote a message to the Central European University Community, slapping the Hungarian government and clearing up that he is planning to increase CEU’s endowments.

According to him, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, has forced the Central European University (CEU) to move its U.S. degree courses to Vienna by making it impossible for CEU to issue American degrees in Budapest.

However, CEU is nevertheless determined to

maintain both academic and public activities

on its campus in Budapest, and it has the full support of the Open Society Foundations and me personally in this endeavour.

I therefore reiterate the commitment—made in June—that CEU has an assured future: the Open Society Foundations

intend to increase CEU’s endowments.

Soros concluded that he would like to thank the perseverance and loyalty of the CEU community under the inspired leadership of its president and rector Michael Ignatieff in very difficult circumstances. “I am also grateful for the steadfast support CEU received both from the Hungarian public and the global academic community. With their support, CEU has emerged as the beacon and symbol of academic freedom worldwide,” he stated.

In fact, his son, Alex Soros, already talked about a possible rise in the CEU’s financial support in June at the university’s graduation ceremony. He added then that he awaits the day when Hungary becomes a democratic country again, hvg.hu reported.

Zsolt Enyedi, pro-rector of the university, said that

they need 4-5 years to move to Vienna

and that is why they received a higher sum of money. 

As we reported before, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations closed its Budapest office last summer. The billionaire philanthropist is the target of many right-wing political movements, so it is probably not surprising that in his mailbox at his Westchester County Home in Bedford, an explosive device was found. Fortunately, the bomb was exploded by squad technicians, and no one was injured.

When in April, he was given the Don Ridenhour Bravery Award, he said that the Hungarian Prime Minister turned him into the supervillain of an alleged plot, and the values of an open society were under attack around the world, including the United States.

Here, you can watch his speech:






 

 

 

 

Momentum nominates Kerpel-Fronius for Budapest mayor

momentum party Kerpel-Fronius for Budapest mayor

The opposition Momentum Movement on Monday nominated businessman Gábor Kerpel-Fronius, the leader of the party’s chapter in Budapest’s 13th district, as its candidate for Budapest mayor in the autumn local elections.

At a press conference boradcast on its Facebook page, Momentum leader András Fekete-Győr said that the results of the European parliamentary election, where Momentum has secured two EP mandates with nine percent of the votes, has shown that Hungarian politics needs “new faces”.

Momentum is the strongest opposition party in 10 of the 23 districts in Budapest, he said.

The decision to nominate Krempel-Fronius was made before the EP election, Fekete-Győr said.

Should Socialist-Párbeszéd candidate Gergely Karácsony win the second round of the opposition pre-election ballot at the end of June, Momentum is ready to back him, he added.

Kerpel-Fronius said

“we have to take Budapest back from the Fidesz mafia.”

While incumbent Mayor Istvan Tarlós “has no vision of what Budapest should look like in ten years”, Momentum has a programme until 2030, he said.

Budapest residents should not have to pay rents exceeding thirty percent of their incomes, and they should have modern, environment friendly alternatives to driving cars in the city, he said. They want a Budapest “where people do not drown in smog” and where important decisions are not made over their heads, he added.

The city mayor should also have his voice heard in Budapest-related “issues of values” such as that of the Central European University, the fate of the 1956 Institute or the reconstruction of the city park, he said.

Read more news about MUNICIPAL ELECTION 2019

CEU signs cooperation pact with German university TUM

ceu bavaria agreement

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Central European University (CEU), located in Budapest, signed a cooperation agreement on Tuesday, CEU announced on its website.

The agreement was signed by President Prof. Herrmann, leading a delegation from TUM to CEU, and CEU Rector Michael Ignatieff.

“The parties understand that the offer of the Bavarian government to support TUM’s engagement in Budapest is conditional on the ability of CEU to operate freely as a US-degree granting institution in Hungary,” the announcement said.

“In this light, both parties call on the Hungarian government to provide CEU with the legal guarantees that would make it possible to inaugurate this new chapter in Hungarian and Bavarian academic and scientific cooperation,” CEU added.

CEU Deputy Rector Zsolt Enyedi said Bavaria and German carmaker BMW both provided significant financial support to CEU and hoped that this would entice the Hungarian government to recognise CEU as a US-degree granting higher education institution.

Enyedi said a related agreement with the Hungarian government would benefit Hungary’s higher education sector, Hungarian society and CEU.

Hungary tightened rules governing the operations of foreign universities in the country in 2017, requiring foreign colleges and universities in Hungary to operate on the basis of an interstate agreement and to run a campus in the country in which they are based.


HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITIES AMONG THE BEST IN THE WORLD – CEU RANKS THE 41ST! – CHECK OUT HERE!


Last December, CEU announced that it will relocate all its US-accredited courses to Vienna for the start of the 2019/2020 academic year.

The university said then that over the course of 20 months, it had taken all steps to comply with Hungarian legislation, launching educational activities in the US that were certified by US authorities. But it said the Hungarian government had made it clear that it had no intention of signing the agreement it had negotiated with the State of New York on ensuring CEU’s operations in Budapest for the long term.

In March, Innovation and Technology Minister László Palkovics said the matter of CEU had been brought up at his talks with Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek in Berlin. The minister said he had confirmed the Hungarian government’s support for a proposal by European People’s Party group leader and spitzenkandidat Manfred Weber on the university forming a partnership with the Technical University of Munich and carmaker BMW.


ORBÁN ‘ACCEPTS’ BAVARIAN OFFER ON CEU, SAYS BAVARIAN MINISTER