# Hungary amends higher-education law in the Lex CEU package

Date: 2017

In April 2017 Parliament amended the higher-education act in terms that made [Central European University](/organizations/central-european-university)’s continued Budapest operation legally unworkable. CEU moved most teaching to Vienna. The Court of Justice later found against Hungary.

The 2017 higher-education amendment imposed conditions on foreign universities that directly affected Central European University. The [Court of Justice of the European Union](/organizations/justice-cjeu) later held in Commission v Hungary that the requirements were incompatible with Union law. CEU subsequently moved its U.S.-accredited degree programs to Vienna. The responsibility pathway is the government bill and governing majority that enacted the restriction. The event is relevant to [civic space](/drivers/civic-space) because academic institutions depend on stable, general and non-discriminatory operating rules. It is not used to claim that all Hungarian higher education was closed or that every university lost autonomy on the same date.

## People

- Viktor Orbán: https://factrail.ai/people/viktor-orban

## Drivers

- Civic Space: https://factrail.ai/drivers/civic-space
- Illiberal state capture in Hungary: https://factrail.ai/drivers/orban-illiberal-state-capture
- Democratic Resilience: https://factrail.ai/drivers/democratic-resilience

## Sources

- https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2020-10/cp200125en.pdf
- https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/redirect/juris/liste.jsf?num=C-66%2F18
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hungary-soros-ceu-idUSKBN17C1N1/
- https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62017CJ0066

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/hu-lex-ceu-2017