Zsolt Semjén

On 28 March 2017, Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog submitted an emergency amendment to the higher education law at the initiative of KDNP leader Zsolt Semjén; parliament passed it in an expedited procedure on 4 April with 123 votes in favor. The law made it impossible for Central European University (CEU) to continue operating in Hungary, forcing it to relocate its teaching activities to Vienna. The submission document was dated and located in Budapest, even though Semjén was documented to be in Iran for nuclear negotiations at the time; the Prime Minister's Office said Semjén had actually signed the submission on 31 March, before departing, and that the document's date simply reflected the submission date rather than the signature date. A criminal complaint alleging forgery of an official document was filed regardless. In May 2017 the prosecutor's office dismissed the complaint, ruling that the document reflected the submission date rather than the signature date and that this violated no rule — closing the matter legally, though the procedural irregularity around the bill's initiation was documented by multiple outlets. The "Lex CEU" triggered international protests and an EU infringement procedure.