“There is a misleading and false Soros campaign going on with relation to the Soros university. The first lie of this campaign is that if the amended Act on Higher Education comes into force then the Soros university will be forced to close. This is not true, and according to the new Hungarian regulations it will continue to operate, launch new courses and issue diplomas”, Minister of State for Education László Palkovics informed EU Commissioner for Education Tibor Navracsics in Brussels, and with regard to which he also held discussions with Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans.
The Hungarian Government is not closing down any universities, including the Soros university. All the Hungarian Government would like is for every university to enjoy a level playing field, and if someone would like to enjoy special privileges, such as issuing a diploma from outside Europe, then there must be an international agreement concerning that fact, duly ratified by the Hungarian National Assembly. The amendment of the Hungarian Act on Higher Education does not mean the closure of the CEU; the CEU will be able to continue its operations unhindered if Hungary and the United States agree on it. Hungary is well-meaning and the Hungarian Government has made it clear that it is ready to begin negotiations.
In addition, we trust that Brussels will not assist the deceptive Soros campaign and will be capable of forming an objective and unbiased opinion that is free of political interests.
László Palkovics travelled to Brussels today to provide first-hand information to the European Commission on the contents of the amendment to the Hungarian Act on Higher Education, in view of the fact that unfortunately several EU politicians have made statements with relation to the issue without bothering to collect information on the real situation and while only relying on information from anti-government organisations that are being financed from abroad.
The organisations funded by George Soros are consciously running a campaign of disinformation with relation to the university’s case. They are using the amendment of Hungary’s Act on Higher Education to launch a comprehensive campaign against Hungary, the true reason and final target of which is to put pressure on the Hungarian Governments’ immigration policy. Speakers at Sunday’s protest organised with the excuse of the university’s issues criticised the Government’s immigration policy.