A major university founded by billionaire financier George Soros is threatening to move most of its teaching operations to Vienna if Hungary's government doesn't remove legal obstacles to its academic freedom.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claims he doesn't want Central European University (CEU) to leave the country, although his actions say otherwise.  His government has reportedly failed to honour a deal allowing the US-registered CEU to continue to issue American-accredited degrees.  CEU is giving the government until 1 December to make good on its word.

In its two decades, the CEU has grown into a prestigious institution that is backed by the European Commission, the US government, noted academics, and Nobel Prize winners from around the world.  It has 1,400 postgraduate students from more than 100 countries, and ranks high in global university league tables.

But it was founded and funded by Mr. Soros, considered to be a mysterious bogeyman in far-right and anti-Semitic circles which have blamed him in  several ridiculous conspiracy theories including somehow causing the European immigration crisis.

Orban fancies himself the opposite of a Liberal.  In 2014, he declared himself in favor of an "illiberal" society and resent the shining beacon that Soros established in his capital.  As Orban tightened his grip on power and clamped down on free expression, free media, and the political opposition, he also put in rules making CEU's operation impossible to maintain.  Losing CEU would be a blow not just to the opposition, but to Hungary's international image, not that Orban cares.

Soros already moved his Open Society Foundations from Budapest to Berlin earlier this year, citing Hungary's "increasingly repressive political and legal environment".