FT letter on the CEU

With UCL SSEES, the LSE European and Global Affairs Institutes, and the Harvard Centre for European Studies, we co-signed a letter to the Financial Times urging Hungary to rethink the closure of the CEU.

In the letter to the FT Editor, the directors of five institutes on European and global affairs argued that the amendment of the National Higher Education Act 2011, passed by the Hungarian parliament on 4 April 2017, introduces new conditions for non-EU higher education institutions in Hungary, which they cannot meet.

The Hungarian prime minister's office has declared these measures to be merely an exercise in regulatory improvement. However, the signatories believe they directly and deliberately threaten the existence of the most accomplished university in the country.

In the letter, we argue that the closure of this distinguished private university would be an act of national self-harm by the government of Hungary, a tragedy for central and eastern Europe, and a blow to academic freedom and independence worldwide. We also urge politicians to defend academic freedom and autonomy anywhere in the EU - and to reconsider the Hungarian governing party's membership of the European People's Party in these circumstances.

The letter was signed by Prof Erik Berglof (Director, Institute of Global Affairs, LSE), Prof Grzegorz Ekiert (Director, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University), Prof Kevin Featherstone (Director, European Institute, LSE), Prof Jan Kubik (Director, School of East European and Slavonic Studies, UCL), and Dr Uta Staiger (Executive Director, European Institute, UCL).

Read the full letter here.