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World|life|March 30, 2017 / 09:42 AM
George Soros' Central European University in Hungary facing closure

AKIPRESS.COM - Students and staff at the Central European University (CEU) in Hungary are protesting against what they say are government plans to close it down, BBCreported.

The university says new legislation proposed by the right-wing Fidesz government on Tuesday night makes it impossible for it to function.

The CEU's founder, philanthropist George Soros, has a strained relationship with the PM Viktor Orban.

But the government says it supports the university and does not want it to go.

Education Secretary Laszlo Palkovics said the proposed legislation followed a review of 28 foreign universities operating in Hungary, including the CEU in Budapest.

"This is not an anti-CEU investigation and not against Mr Soros," he said.

The Hungary-born billionaire founded the university in 1991 and continues to fund it.

He wanted the CEU to be a bastion of liberal thought and promote the values of an open society and democracy.

But the university appears to have become the latest target in a campaign by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government against liberal values.

The government says the CEU and other foreign-funded universities are operating outside the law, and that the new legislation aims to create a new legal footing.

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