Scrapped Academic Freedom to Transgressed Constitutionalism : The Lex CEU in Hungary

Narrowing the academic space of Central European University (CEU) by the ‘Lex CEU’ in 2017 and onwards, the Hungarian Government has impeded directly the constitutional right to academic freedom, and transgressed the bounds of constitutionalism, especially in terms of the legislative process and judicial restraints. The legislatures, executives and judiciary of Government acted as a joint force in ravaging the academic activities of CEU that has already been a reliable hub embarking a plausible transformation in both academic and socio-political aspects in Central and Eastern Europe. This research article aims at examining the intrusion on constitutionalism in Hungary connecting the breach of constitutional commitment of ‘academic freedom of CEU’ with the enactment of Lex CEU which is a legislative instrument of an irregular mode, and the judicial review the Constitutional Court of Hungary turned ineffective against the enactment. Throughout this academic research paper, the encroachment upon the academic freedom considered as the transgression of substantive constitutionalism has been investigated exploring the liberating force of academic freedom and CEU in building the open, liberal and democratic society in Hungary and beyond. While locating the breach of academic freedom as a deviation of substantive constitutionalism, the research has been be further directed to unpack the impetus of offended procedural constitutionalism encompassing the irregular law-making and non-functioning of the Hungarian Constitutional Court while dealing with the review petition.