The George Soros-founded Central European University (CEU) has been issued an “arbitrary eviction” by the government of Hungary and has been forced out of the country. The school will be moving to Austria next year, reports HuffPo.
In a statement following the closure, the CEU lamented that the Hungarian government, currently run by the right-wing nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has made an “unprecedented” move by giving the Soros school the boot.
“CEU has been forced out,” said CEU President and Rector Michael Ignatieff. “This is unprecedented. A U.S. institution has been driven out of a country that is a NATO ally. A European institution has been ousted from a member state of the EU.”
“Arbitrary eviction of a reputable university is a flagrant violation of academic freedom,” the statement continued. “It is a dark day for Europe and a dark day for Hungary.”
HuffPo provided further context:
CEU’s legal status has been in limbo for more than a year since changes to a higher education law that meant a foreign-registered university could no longer operate in Hungary unless it also provided courses in its home country.
CEU, founded in Budapest in 1991, has repeatedly said it has complied with all the new regulations set by Orban’s government, which has refused to sign off on an already agreed document with the State of New York that would allow CEU to stay.
Hungary’s government has dismissed the university’s move as a “Soros-style bluff”.
CEU said it would start enrolling students for U.S. degrees at its new campus in Vienna for the next academic year. Students already enrolled will complete their studies in Budapest.
The university retains accreditation as a Hungarian university and will seek to continue teaching and research activity in Budapest as long as possible, it said.
The war on “the man who broke the bank of England” has been ongoing in his home country of Hungary for some time now. After parliament successfully passed the “Stop Soros” bill, Hungary has continued going full-speed ahead in the quest to rid the country of his influence, both culturally and politically.
The “Stop Soros” bill had the expressed intention of empowering the interior minister to ban non-governmental organizations (NGOs). After passing in May of this year, several aid groups founded by George Soros were forced out of the country, including the Open Society Foundation, which moved all local staff to Berlin.
Patrick Gaspard, president of Soros’ propaganda organization Open Society Foundations, said that Hungary unfairly persecuted him at the time. “The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union,” he said.
Soros has spent multi-millions to promote left-wing causes in foreign countries he has little to nothing to do with. This year, he employed every celebrity he can fit into his pocket in the effort to repeal Ireland’s 8th Amendment outlawing abortion. In May, the once-Catholic country overwhelmingly voted in favor of legalized abortion with 68% of the vote.
Soros has given over $32 billion in support of the Open Society Foundations.
In October of last year, Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán announced that expelling George Soros from the country was a personal mission. “The Soros network has an extensive sphere of influence within the European Parliament and other EU bodies,” he said. “Its aim is to build a Europe of mixed population and to condemn the Hungarian government for opposing their view on migration.”
Critics have condemned Orbán’s efforts to clamp down on NGOs he sees as dangerous to the “social fabric” of the country as increasingly authoritarian and anti-democratic, but his government continues to ramp up pressure on the likes of Soros’ Open Society.
“We are going to reaffirm those elements of our sovereignty which are under attack,” said the prime minister’s spokesman, Zoltan Kovacs. “The will of the people is going to rule the political arena.”
In reaction to campaigns against him in both Hungary and Britain, Soros has portrayed himself as a victim of “toxic, personal” criticism against him.