“The Government is happy to enter into negotiations with any university, but nobody can stand above the law”, the Minister of Human Capacities said with relation to the Bill on regulating the operations of foreign-founded universities.
Following the official opening of the Budapest Spring Festival, in reply to a question from the press Zoltán Balog stressed: the question of foreign universities that operate in Hungary must be examined from the perspective of ensuring fair competition, the enforcement of Hungary’s interests and that the law is respected.
“On this basis, the Government is happy to enter into negotiations with everyone who has not abided by the regulations thus far”, the Minister said.
According to Mr. Balog, there exists no treaty between Hungary and the State of New York on the operation of the Central European University (CEU), although there are two memorandums of intent, which however did not lead to the conclusion of an intergovernmental agreement. “The Government is ready to begin negotiations based on these facts”, he noted.
“If an American state contacts Hungary with regard to this matter and there exists in that state a real university that holds real courses, then there will be no obstacle to an agreement”, the Minister said.
Mr. Balog reminded the press that the review into the operations of all foreign universities operating in Hungary has been going on for months and has uncovered a host of discrepancies at several universities, not only at the CEU, which is financed by George Soros, although the Central European University is undoubtedly the largest university involved.
“We decided that we must realise this legislative amendment to create a more transparent environment”, he said.
The Minister pointed out that in Macedonia these was a major investigation into the influence of George Soros’s organisations, and that many people in the United States are also critical of the activities that George Soros performs throughout the world. “This shows that we are not alone”, Mr. Balog said.
The Minister said he would gladly discuss the proposed legislative amendment with President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences László Lovas, who is against the Bill, but whose mediation is unnecessary in view of the fact that the issue with the CEU must be solved during the course of intergovernmental negotiations.