Page 9 - bneNewspaper_130417

Central Europe
April 13, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Fallout continues from Hungary govt assault on university
bne IntelliNews
The fallout from the Hungarian government’s as- sault on Budapest’s Central European University (CEU) continues, as tempers began to fray over the controversial move.
Demonstrators are being held in custody over at- tacks on official buildings, while ominous threats were issued by the government-friendly media. Meanwhile, the US sent the Fidesz government
a clear message that it fully supports the George Soros-funded CEU and will not discuss the issue with Budapest, adding that it hopes Hungary “un- derstands what is at stake”.
Protestors were arrested on April 10 outside the official residence of President Janos Ader during an ad hoc protest in response to the news that Hungary’s head of state had rubber-stamped the controversial so-called “lex CEU”. Several pro- testers threw paint at the building as the crowd chanted that the “city’s going to burn”.
After years of dismantling democratic checks and balances, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s latest move to amend the higher education act to curtail the activities of the liberal CEU has provoked anger that culminated in up to 80,000 people taking to the streets on April 9 in support of the institution.
CEU Building
The diplomatic efforts in Washington of CEU rec- tor Michael Ignatieff, who was once the Canadian Liberal Party’s prime ministerial candidate, ap- pears to have helped galvanise support for his US-Hungarian university. US State Department Deputy Secretary of State Hoyt Yee visited Buda- pest on April 11 to express the US government’s concern over the adoption of the law. America’s top diplomat for Central and Eastern Europe said the legal amendment targets CEU “very clearly and threatens this important American Hungar- ian institution”. He underlined that his words were also supported by US National Security Council member Fiona Hill.
The Hungarian government, which is said to have expected closer relations with the US after the election of Donald Trump, cancelled their regular press engagements for the rest of the week, citing the Easter holidays.
Turning up the heat was Zsolt Bayer, a well- known far-right journalist with close links to Orban. He appeared to threaten violence against the protestors. “You will experience what it feels like to be persecuted and threatened,” he wrote, summing up a rant.