Hungary will not support the new Erasmus strategy until Hungarian university students and researchers receive their rightful share of the Erasmus and Horizon programs, said Balázs Hankó, Minister of Culture and Innovation, on Monday.
He explained that they had consulted with the leadership of the Hungarian Rectors’ Conference and that their position was in line with that of the government.
Balázs Hankó indicated that the education ministers of the EU countries would discuss the new Erasmus strategy on Thursday.
Responding to a question, the Minister
called it a ‘loss and unlawful’ that the European Commission excluded Hungarian university students, teachers, and researchers from the Erasmus+ and Horizon scholarship programs in 2022.
He said that the decision was unjustified because the Hungarian Government had implemented the agreed legislative changes and introduced the regulations requested by the European Commission.
According to him, the Commission “made all kinds of false claims,” one of which was that politicians were in the majority in university governing bodies. He pointed out that at the time, 13 of the 105 members were politicians, who resigned within two months, but he also said that in Austria, 50 percent of university councils are made up of government delegates.
He also noted that the Commission had no right to do so because education is not a harmonized European competence, but a national competence.
Hankó said
that 87 percent of the members of the Hungarian university senates support the Hungarian system, therefore what Brussels is doing goes against the decisions of the Hungarian universities.
He pointed out that there has been no progress on the issue since 2022. In fact, “Brussels is now at the point where it wants to introduce conflict of interest rules for the rectors of Hungarian universities, or allow Brussels-based NGOs to elect members to the governing bodies of universities.”
Hankó called this a red line, a matter of sovereignty.
He objected to the proposal to include North African and Palestinian universities in Erasmus, which would bring 350,000 non-European university students to European universities.
The program also mentioned that six Hungarian universities had turned to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Hankó said that after nearly two years, the case had entered the negotiation phase, and, referring to the universities’ statements, he said that the judges were shocked by the European Commission’s lies, by the fact that they had excluded Hungarian schools without any investigation, without even asking the rectors, students, or teachers.
The Minister believes that justice must prevail, but whether the truth will come out before the April elections is a political question.
Hankó said,
We are fighting, it will be a big battle and the new strategy must state that all European Union citizens are eligible for Erasmus, including Hungarian university students.”
He emphasized that without this, the strategy will not be approved, as it requires a unanimous decision.
Minister Balázs Hankó said that they would not let university students down, and had launched the Pannonia Scholarship Program, which he described as better and more successful than Erasmus; 8,115 students had already studied at leading universities in Europe and around the world with its help.
The Minister emphasized that Hungary and the U.S. Government have signed a university and research agreement, and that the Fulbright and Pannonia Scholarship Programs will cooperate in the future.
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Via MTI; Featured photo: Facebook/Corvinus University
The post Government Will Not Support New Erasmus Plan without Student Access appeared first on Hungary Today.
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