Amendment to Hungarian higher education law violates EU regulations, says advocate general

Brussels, March 5 (MTI) - A top European court official has found that amendments to Hungary's law on higher education that affect how foreign universities such as the Central European University operate in the country breach EU law. The advocate general of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Juliane Kokott, said on Thursday that Hungary "must treat foreign and national higher education institutions equally". Hungary's parliament passed the amendments in the spring of 2017. They obliged foreign universities to carry out educational activities in their home countries and made their operations dependent on a bilateral agreement between the Hungarian government and the country in which the universities were based. The opinion, which does not bind the CJEU, said the contested legislation "appears to be a means of arbitrary discrimination".