During its annual meeting at CEU in Budapest, Hungary on April 19-22, the European Public Choice Society (EPCS) expressed its solidarity with Central European University. Writing on behalf of the society, EPCS President Axel Dreher noted that the proposed changes “would endanger the academic freedom vital for the CEU’s continued operation in Budapest and would strike a blow against the academic freedom that enables all universities, including those in Hungary, to flourish.” Dreher called on the Hungarian government “to withdraw the proposed legislation and enter consultation with CEU, bearing in mind the damage such legislation might do to Hungary’s well-founded international academic reputation, to its relationships with its European partners, and with the United States.”
"As a society of political economists with a keen interest in the quality of democratic political institutions, EPCS members have a natural intellectual interest in the situation we find ourselves in," said EPCS Conference Co-Organizer and CEU Associate Professor Michael Dorsch. "Many EPCS members approached me to express their support for CEU and seeing participants leave the conference and return to their universities with blue #IstandwithCEU badges pinned to their bags was nice; it made me feel optimistic."