Hungary’s Crackdown on Soros-Linked Schools Ruled Illegal by EU Top Court

(Bloomberg) -- Hungary’s crackdown on foreign-funded colleges, such as the George Soros-linked Central European University, was overturned by the European Union’s top court in a ruling that refocused attention on the erosion of the rule of law under Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The judgment returns Hungary to the spotlight at a time when the EU is considering cutting funding to member states found to be flouting the rule of law. Orban, who is among the leaders trying to torpedo the effort, initially threatened to scupper the bloc’s 750 billion euro ($883 billion) coronavirus fund before offering last week to forgo billions of euros to escape further EU scrutiny.

Of all of Orban’s measures to roll back democracy over the past decade, his drive to oust CEU has been among the most emblematic. Soros, the Budapest-born U.S. investor and philanthropist, founded CEU after the fall of the Iron Curtain to train a new generation of leaders committed to liberal democratic values and open societies, something Orban has come to oppose.

Restrictions introduced in 2017 on foreign universities effectively barred CEU from enrolling new students limited academic freedom, the EU Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday. The government also violated EU safeguards on the freedom of establishment and free movement of services, the 13-judge panel said.

“This judgment is a total repudiation of Viktor Orban’s legal strategy since 2017 and, most importantly, it renders lex CEU inapplicable in Hungary,” Michael Ignatieff, CEU’s rector and president, said in an online press briefing from Vienna, where the university has since moved its main campus. “We feel a tremendous sense of vindication.”

The Austrian capital is by now CEU’s “permanent home,” Ignatieff said. He added, however, that CEU may consider restoring some of its programs, including U.S. accredited ones that the government regulation outlawed.

The Hungarian government will comply with the EU court ruling “in accordance with the interest of the Hungarian people,” Justice Minister Judit Varga said in a Facebook post. At the same, she said it was “unacceptable” to have “double standards” where a different set of rules would apply to CEU than for other foreign universities.

CEU, which from the outset argued that Orban’s measures were aimed at shutting it down, citing the government’s crackdown against dissenting voices and Soros-linked organizations in particular.

Hungary has been a buzzword in the EU for suspected rule-of-law violations since Orban returned to power in 2010 and embarked on an unprecedented consolidation of power for a member state, including by extending political influence over the courts, media, culture and education. The EU has struggled to rein him in despite a multitude of infringement procedures and lawsuits.

The case is: C-66/18, European Commission v. Hungary.

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