[ad_1]
The clash between Hungary and the EU is enriched with a new chapter. This time it is the cultural segment that is digging another institutional trench. In fact, Brussels yesterday rejected the measures introduced by the government of Viktor Orban to allow foreign higher education institutions to carry out their activities in its territory, defining them as contrary and discriminatory to the legislation of the European Union. The law, renamed anti-Soros because it was enacted to obstruct the Central European University (CEU), founded by the Hungarian-born American magnate, would not respect EU rules and should therefore be corrected. The European Commission has spoken out against the legislation as, in its opinion, it would be incompatible with both the commitments assumed by Hungary under the General Agreement on Trade in Services, signed at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization, and with the freedom of establishment and circulation of services guaranteed by the European Union. Orban’s response was immediate. On the sidelines of the press conference on the historic increase in the salaries of health personnel, the president stressed that “once again Brussels, according to the Hungarian opposition, continues to protect the interests of Soros.”
It is worth mentioning that the law in question was introduced in 2017 and, in fact, made it impossible for some foreign private institutions to practice on Hungarian territory. These include Soros’ CEU, which had to transfer most of its core activities from Budapest, where it had operated since the early 1990s, to Vienna. Criticisms of the CEU are multiple: thanks to its ability to obtain the award of most of the research projects destined for Hungary, it is in fact accused of unfair competition and theft of resources from universities and state and national research centers , as well as to discriminate against Magyar masters and benefit from a condition of effective extraterritoriality. Teachers from outside the EU, for example, are exempted from the obligation to apply to local authorities for a residence and work permit. According to many, however, the CEU seems to pay for its many openly anti-government positions, but above all for the role that Soros plays in supporting associations and movements opposed to the Orban government, which also leads to consider the research institute a foreign-funded and highly politicized body. It is well known that there is no good blood between Orban and Soros: from the issue of migration to the kind of relationship that is to be built with Moscow, the two have completely different views and political designs. For example, a couple of years ago the decision to bet on foreign NGOs operating in Hungarian territory, many of which can be attributed in various ways to the tycoon.
