Michael Ignatieff, rector of the US-linked Central European University (CEU), said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the EU would launch infringement proceedings against the Hungarian government for its “outrageous” attack on academic freedoms. However, Ignatieff, a former leader of the Liberal party in Canada, said the Hungarian government appeared willing to brush off the infringement proceedings. The university is accredited in New York state but has no campus there, and Orbán says this gives CEU an unfair advantage over other Hungarian universities. Asked what Orbán hoped to achieve in persecuting the CEU, Ignatieff responded: “You have really got to ask him. “If this isn’t shutting down a university, I don’t know what it is.

Source: The Guardian April 25, 2017 16:30 UTC