Post Tagged with: "Central European University"

Ágnes Bátory (left) and Sara Svensson

The use and abuse of participatory governance by populist governments

Ágnes Bátory and Sara Svensson both from the Central European University Budapest co-authored a remarkable paper about public consultations. They analyzed Viktor Orbán’s national consultations in Hungary, these are probably the most wide-scale consultative exercises in contemporary Europe. Some of our readers might not know that the Orbán government repeatedly sent questionnaires to every household in the country in some […]

by · June 24, 2019 · Politics
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (left) and Minister of Innovation and Technology László Palkovics.

Minister László Palkovics shouldn’t get an opportunity to speak at UC Berkeley

László Palkovics, Hungary’s Minister of Innovation and Technology, will speak at the University of California at Berkeley on Thursday, April 4. The title of his presentation is “Hungary as a European Hub for Autonomous Vehicle Design and Validation” Mr. Palkovics has been invited by the Department of Mechanical Engineering and is hosted by Professor Francesco Borrelli. Mr. Palkovics is a […]

by · March 25, 2019 · Politics
Journalists and observers listen to a news conference on Monday at CEU about the university's forced move to Vienna.

Hungary’s loss — Central European University moves to Vienna

On Monday, Central European University announced that new students enrolling starting in September 2019 would begin their studies in Vienna, rather than Budapest, after Hungary’s highest ranked university was forced out of the country by the regime of Viktor Orbán. “CEU has been forced out. This is unprecedented. A U.S. institution has been driven out of a country that is a NATO […]

by · December 3, 2018 · Politics
CEU Budapest

CEU building receives architecture prize; university might be forced to move

The highly regarded Central European University (CEU) recently completed a new building in downtown Budapest which was named among the four finalists in the Royal Institute of British Architects International Prize, an award honoring the world’s best new buildings. The new structure is considered “a triumph of contextual architecture — a mixture of new and refurbished structures that delicately nod […]

by · October 25, 2018 · Politics
Amb. Cornstein (second from left) with previous Ambassador Ms. Colleen Bell (second from right) with their spouses.

A letter to Ambassador David B. Cornstein from Professor János Kertész

Mr. David B. Cornstein, the new US Ambassador to Budapest, recently gave a lengthy interview to the Hungarian magazine Szombat. Amb. Cornstein discussed his mother’s Hungarian family roots, his career goals and several issues of US-Hungary relations. In general, Cornstein does not see problems with Hungary’s Human Rights record, press freedom or separation of powers. In fact, he insists that […]

by · September 9, 2018 · Politics
Gender studies programs to be banned in Hungary

Gender studies programs to be banned in Hungary

The Orbán regime introduced legislation to shut down accredited gender studies programs offered by universities in Hungary. Academics now have 24 hours to respond to the government’s plan. The ban will primarily impact students at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest (ELTE)–the only institution in Hungary, other than Central European University, to offer gender studies at the graduate level, and the […]

by · August 10, 2018 · Politics
The Soros mercenary list in Figyelő. Photo: Tamás Botos / 444

Fidesz begins intimidation campaign against civil society with Soros mercenary list

Attila Chikán, the Minister of the Economy during the initial years of the first Orbán government (1998-2002), broke down in tears on live television Thursday night. He was one of hundreds of mostly private Hungarian citizens who were listed in the Figyelő propaganda weekly as being “mercenaries of Soros.” Barely 11 years ago, on the nineteenth anniversary of Fidesz, Viktor Orbán […]

by · April 13, 2018 · Politics
Prof. Christopher Ball (left) with ex-Ambassador György Szapáry.

Christopher Ball says that Orbán’s attack on CEU is anti-American

Professor Christopher Ball teaches at the Business School of Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. In 2013 he was handpicked by then Hungarian Ambassador György Szapáry, an Orbán confidant, to serve as Honorary Consul. Professor Ball, Director of the Central European Institute and István Széchenyi Chair in International Economics, lived in Hungary for a couple of years but does not speak […]

by · August 3, 2017 · Politics
Gergely Gulyás. Photo: hirado.hu

Fidesz vice president concerned that ruling party is unappealing to Hungarian youth

Gergely Gulyás, vice president of the ruling Fidesz party, expressed concern that the party which once limited its membership to people under the age of 35 has now lost Hungary’s youth vote. “Success is most certainly rather attractive to young people, but let me exercise self-criticism: even if Fidesz is successful, today it is not appealing enough to young people,” […]

by · June 10, 2017 · Politics
Zoltán Balog

Washington openly snubs Viktor Orbán’s regime on CEU affair

This week started with embarrassment for Viktor Orbán’s regime and especially for Minister of Human Capacities Zoltán Balog, who experienced a thoroughly public snubbing by Washington DC on the on-going saga of the planned shuttering of Central European University. On Monday, Mr. Balog, whose gigantic and unruly ministry oversees the education portfolio in Hungary, told journalists of the Index news […]

by · May 23, 2017 · Politics