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- The law violates, among other things, fundamental EU rights such as academic freedom, Luxembourg judges ruled.
- Due to this legal basis, the Central European University (CEU) founded by the American billionaire George Soros was expelled from Hungary in 2018.
- The right-wing national government law in Budapest states that foreign universities must also teach in their home country and that the operation of Hungary must be contractually agreed with the home country.
The CEU, founded by Soros, was the only foreign university that did not meet these new 2017 requirements. At the end of 2018, the CEU announced its extensive move to Vienna. This affected the courses that award American diplomas, the core of the CEU.
The EU Commission had initiated procedures
The EU Commission saw the EU law violated by the law and initiated what is known as contract violation proceedings against Budapest in April 2017. Because Hungary did not allay concerns, the Brussels authority eventually sued the ECJ.
He argued that the new law violated “the freedom of higher education institutions to offer services or establish themselves throughout the EU.” At the same time, the new regulations go against the “right to academic freedom, the right to education and business freedom”, which are anchored in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. In addition, the obligations arising from international commercial law, the Gats Agreement, would be violated.
The Luxembourg judges now largely agree with the EU Commission. The Gats agreement is being violated and fundamental EU rights, such as academic freedom, are being violated.
Orban and Soros are opponents
According to critics, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been lobbying the country’s civil society for years. Orban chose Holocaust survivor Soros of Hungary as his enemy. It covers it with slander and hostility with anti-Semitic overtones.
Tuesday’s ruling is not the first time this year that the EU’s highest court has detained right-wing nationalist Orban and his government. In May, the ECJ declared that key parts of the Hungarian asylum system violated EU law. In June, judges in Luxembourg outlawed the so-called NGO law of 2017.
