After a massive protest in Budapest on Sunday involving more than 70,000 demonstrators–who called for academic freedom and freedom in general in authoritarian Hungary–and after receiving letters and petitions from dozens of universities, academic associations and scholars abroad, President János Áder signed off on a bill that, in its current form, will make it impossible for Central European University to […]
Hungary is replaceable. Budapest is replaceable. While anyone who knows and loves the Hungarian capital would be saddened to see the Central European University forced to go, those of us who have had our fill of seven years of Hungary’s slide into a wildly corrupt autocracy also applaud Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern’s decision to begin high level negotiations aimed at […]
In 2012 when former New York Governor George Pataki became a member of the Central European University (CEU) Board of Trustees, university founder and Honorary Chairman George Soros held a reception at his Southampton, New York home. Pataki was grateful for the appointment. As a trustee, Pataki was instrumental in selecting Michael Ignatieff, the Canadian professor and liberal politician as […]
Starting January 1st, 2018, Budapest’s Central European University (CEU) will no longer be permitted to enrol new students in any programs, unless an agreement is reached between the United States government, the State of New York and Hungary’s Orbán government no later than September and unless CEU opens a new campus in the U.S. A total of 123 MPs voted […]
Michael Ignatieff, Central European University’s rector and a citizen of Canada, wrote a public letter to professors, students and graduates of CEU to inform them that the Orbán government intends to draft legislation that directly threatens the future of this Budapest-based, English-language institution. Mr. Ignatieff emphasized: “The claim that we do not have program accreditation is entirely false. The claim […]
I have known the dark ages of Hungary. As a child, during World War Two, I experienced first-hand Hungarian ultra-nationalism and anti-Semitism. I managed to avoid deportation and murder in Auschwitz by fleeing to Palestine in 1943, along with 49 other Jewish children. Decades later, I returned to Hungary during the years of Communism. As a journalist writing for major […]
Hungary’s governing party got a rare slap on the wrist on Friday, after the National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (NAIH) indicated in a statement that the country’s intelligence agencies were not to be used by political players for partisan purposes. The statement comes after Szilárd Németh, a prominent Fidesz MP and vice chair of Parliament’s National […]
Zoltán Németh is a Roman Catholic priest in the town of Körmend (population: 12,400), located directly on the border with Austria. Fr. Németh did what would not raise a single eyebrow in western Europe, nor in North America: he simply offered basic help to a handful of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, giving them shelter in a building owned by his […]
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán appears to have had an audience with Pope Francis and the Hungarian leader–whose government has explicitly gone against the message of compassion that the Catholic pontiff has shared in regards to the refugee crisis–was quick to post a photo of his reported visit to Facebook. Fidesz does, after all, govern together with the Christian Democratic People’s […]
Political Capital, one of Hungary’s most prominent think tanks, reminds us this week that 42% of Hungarians believe that it is not the government in Budapest, with its near super majority in parliament, which controls events in the country, but rather some other, shadowy force. Among those who believe this to be true, 30% are convinced that Jews rule the world and […]
