Lázár said after a public forum in Kiszombor in southern Hungary that the draft resolution proposing Article 7 represented a “threat and an attempt to pressurise” Hungary. It will be the umpteenth assessment by the EP about Hungary so “there is nothing new about it”, he said.

He added that he believed all universities operating in Hungary should be affected by equal regulations, including US financier George Soros’s Central European University. Soros has a strong lobby in Brussels and he has “huge influence on the left wing,” Lázár said. Hungary will not yield to pressure, he added.

He told the public forum that the EP passed judgement on Hungary “in a way that suits George Soros’ taste” because Hungary wants to withdraw the privileges of the Soros university.

Those that voted for the stricter resolution voted against Hungary and “we cannot accept that”, he said. The EP’s resolution calls on the Hungarian government to suspend the deadlines included in the new higher education bill and undertake the obligation that the CEU can stay in Budapest as a free institution.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Koszticsák Szilárd