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#IStandWithCEU: Viktor Orbán to speak in European Parliament debate on fundamental rights in Hungary

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Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán will address the European Parliament today (26 April) on the fundamental rights situation in Hungary. Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans will also speak on this matter.

One of the issues that will be high on the agenda is the targeting of the Hungarian Central European University (CEU). The Rector and President of the CEU. Michael Ignatieff addressed a public debate organised by five groups in the European Parliament.

Ignatieff said that his job was not to tell Europe what to do, but to tell Europe what is at stake. “It would be the first time since 1945 that a university was closed down.” The CEU was founded over 25 years ago to help Eastern European countries in the transition to democracy after the fall of the iron curtain.

Ignatieff said that when a government has an issue with a university they usually consult with the university. In the CEU case and without warning, legislation was introduced that would make it impossible for the university to operate.

Ignatieff said that it was an attack on freedom as the CEU posed no challenge to the government. He emphasised that CEU has support in Washington, Berlin, Budapest and now it was time to get some support in Brussels.

MEPs are likely to raise the issue of the New Higher Education Law, targeting the Central European University (CEU) and recent laws against non-governmental organisations that could have been cut-and-pasted from Vladimir Putin.

There has also been much criticism surrounding a recently-passed law providing for the automatic detention of asylum-seekers, increasing control over the media and concerns about the independence of the judiciary are also likely to feature in the debate.

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Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee held a discussion on the fundamental rights situation of Hungary with government and civil society representatives in February. We spoke with Peter Niedermuller MEP (S&D, Hungary).

 

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