Orbán’s think-tank falls apart without state backing, says CEU rector

The conservative think-tank Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) will fall apart if incoming Hungarian prime minister Péter Magyar makes good on his threats, interim rector Carsten Q. Schneider of the Central European University (CEU) told Euractiv.

Schneider talks to Euractiv from his office in Vienna. The CEU was founded and funded in Budapest by long-time Orbán-opponent, George Soros – a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist, born in Budapest.

In 2017, it moved the bulk of its teaching operations to Vienna after the Orbán-government implemented laws the CEU insisted were tailored to render it impossible for it to stay. Still, after centre-right firebrand Magyar’s election win, the university is planning to stay in the Austrian capital.

Now another institution might be under pressure thanks to the change of government in Budapest.

On Monday – one day after his election win – Magyar said that his government will do away with the state’s ties both to the MCC and CPAC – a highly politicised annual conservative political conference that takes place in Hungary.

“I believe the state should never have financed them in the first place, it was a crime,” said Magyar, adding that the matter will be investigated by future authorities.

 That, Schneider predicts, will be detrimental.

“If these financial ties are severed, I believe the system will deflate, much like a hot air balloon—unless other actors – such as MAGA in the United States – step in to assume the costs and continue funding this international network of think tanks, NGOs, and quasi-academic events.”

Some have argued that the setup of the MCC is mirroring the success model of the CEU – “providing access to talented individuals from outside major urban centres and offering them high-quality education,” Schneider said.

“I cannot fully assess how successfully they achieved the latter, but they certainly provided very generous financial support to students with strong academic ambitions.”

The institution should not be dismissed entirely, Schneider argued. Still, the MCC should not be seen as a higher education project, “but rather as a political one,” he said. “In academic terms, it is not a competitor.”

But Magyar should still stop short of closing down the organisation. That would be a restriction of academic freedom, Schneider said.

“It would be excessive to prevent people from expressing their views freely. However, it is problematic if quasi-public funding is used for fostering political views dressed as academic research and to fill key positions predominantly with politically affiliated individuals,” he said. Orbán‘s political director, Balázs Orbán – who is not related to the Hungarian leader – leads the MCC’s Board of Trustees.

(bw, adm)