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Orban Moves Against Hungary Scientists in Latest Challenge to EU

Orban Moves Against Hungarian Scientists in Latest Attack

(Bloomberg) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban moved closer to extending his influence over scientific research in his latest challenge to the European Union.

The government filed a bill to parliament that calls for stripping the Academy of Sciences of its research network, the biggest in the country, and bringing it under the cabinet’s sway. The Academy said the move was an attack on the freedom of scientific endeavor.

The spat comes after European Parliament elections where Orban and other nationalists failed to shift the EU’s overall direction. Since the ballot, he has conceded -- at least temporarily -- on some of the most controversial measures. That may narrow the exposure of his illiberal regime to a backlash from the EU, while pressing ahead in other areas to further consolidate power.

Last week, the cabinet agreed to indefinitely suspend a plan to carve up the country’s supreme court, part of Orban’s bid to salvage his place in the EU’s biggest political family where his Fidesz party’s membership had already been frozen for the erosion of democracy.

Holocaust Museum

The government said it acted out of concern that the legislation would’ve put Hungary in a the line of fire as the EU mulls cutting funding to those flouting the rule-of-law.

The cabinet also sought to diffuse criticism over a new Holocaust museum, which critics said was originally aimed at whitewashing the country’s responsibility.

A pro-Orban historian who had been in charge of the new museum and had been the target of criticism from Hungary’s biggest Jewish group has been removed from the project and the planned permanent exhibition was being overhauled, the Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday.

Despite some concessions, a senior minister last week said Orban wouldn’t backtrack on almost a decade of policy steps that have led to a consolidation of power unprecedented in the EU.

Minister Gergely Gulyas said the government wouldn’t change its mind about Central European University, the George Soros-founded institution in Budapest which is in the process of moving most of its academic programs to Vienna. Authorities denied CEU the right to continue issuing U.S. diplomas, marking the first time an EU member state effectively expelled a university from its territory.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zoltan Simon in Budapest at zsimon@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net, Andrea Dudik, Andras Gergely

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