Hungary's parliament overhauls higher education amid outcry

Hungary’s parliament on Tuesday voted to transfer state assets worth billions of dollars into foundations that will control many of the country’s public universities and cultural institutions

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Hungary's parliament on Tuesday voted to transfer state assets worth billions of dollars into foundations that will control many of the country's public universities and cultural institutions, a move opposition figures have decried as a theft of public funds. Passed by the governing coalition's two-thirds majority in parliament, the decision placed 11 universities under the control of public foundations led by government-appointed boards of trustees, the latest step in what critics have called a takeover of Hungary's higher education system by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his ruling Fidesz party. The foundations were granted endowments worth billions of dollars in public assets, including valuable real estate, a palace, a harbor and shares of partially state-owned companies like energy company MOL and pharmaceutical firm Gideon Richter, leading to accusations of a mass transfer of public wealth into the hands of government loyalists. “This is a very dangerous move. Many speculate this is the creation of a deep state,” said Miklos Ligeti, legal director of anti-corruption group Transparency International Hungary.