Hungary will not relax rules for international universities despite pressure from the European Union and offers from Germany to mediate in a row over a college founded by U.S. billionaire George Soros, the government spokesman said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a nationalist who has often clashed with the European Union, has been accused of restricting academic freedom with his new higher education rules, which the Central European University said forced it out of the country.
"There is no change in our core view," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said. "We will not change the laws and regulations that govern higher education in Hungary. We still operate on that basis."