Hungarian government will cover 2024 Erasmus grants if talks with EU fail — UPDATED

Hungary’s government will cover students’ 2024 Erasmus grants if it fails to reach an agreement with the European Union on Erasmus funding for universities run by foundations, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.

At a regular press briefing, Gergely Gulyás called it “unacceptable” that universities run by foundations would become ineligible for funding as part of the EU’s Erasmus programme, under which students from Hungary can study abroad. He said there were numerous examples of universities in western Europe that had active politicians sitting on their boards of trustees.

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He said the matter was also “outrageous” because when Hungary reached an agreement with the European Commission, the government had followed the executive body’s rules on conflicts of interest.

Gulyás said Tibor Navracsics, the regional development minister, will consult with the EU on the matter. The government hopes “that this is just a misunderstanding and the matter can be resolved quickly”, he added.

If no agreement is reached, Hungary will cover the costs of next year’s Erasmus grants, Gulyás said.

If the matter is not resolved, Hungary will file a lawsuit at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) over the resolution suspending the programme, he added.

This year’s Erasmus grants have already been approved and are not impacted by any council resolution or commission opinion, Gulyás said, adding that the decision applies to the 2024 grants.

Hungary wants to find a “peaceful solution” to the matter, he said, adding there may be little room for one given that the government had consulted with the EC and fulfilled its requests.

Meanwhile, Gulyás said the number of academic publications by universities that have adopted the foundational model increased by 18 percent over a single year.

Higher education admissions increased by 9 percent in 2021 and a further 7.5 percent in 2022 compared with 2020 despite there not having been more secondary school graduates in 2022 than in 2020, he said.

There are currently around 40,000 international students studying at Hungarian universities and colleges, up by 65 percent since 2013, he said. Hungarian higher education institutions received applications from 11,300 international students between 2020 and 2021 despite the coronavirus pandemic, most of which went to universities run by foundations, Gulyás said.

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Hungarian universities have also moved up significantly in international rankings, he said, noting that there were 11 institutions ranked in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings this year, compared with nine two years ago and seven four years ago.

Also, government funding for higher education is now double what it had been in 2020 despite the difficult economic situation, Gulyás said.

Turning to the economy Gulyás said the 2023 state budget was dedicated to protecting the caps on household utility bills. Referring to changes to this year’s budget, expected to be passed by parliament in March, Gulyás said the government was committed to maintaining its utility price cap programme and high employment “amid a number of economic hazards”. The goals of increasing pensions and real wages have not changed, he added.

Gulyás said the goal of avoiding a recession was likely to be met, adding that most analysts were in agreement with the government’s growth target of 1.5 percent for this year. If that is met, he said, the utility price caps could be maintained for average consumption, while family subsidies could even increase.

The budget deficit is set to fall to 3.9 percent of GDP from 4.9 percent and the public debt is expected to decline further, he said.

The budget also covers the 13th month pension and pension hikes, Gulyás said, noting that the average pension has increased to 208,800 forints (EUR 523) from 97,000 forints in 2010. The government will spend a total of 6,150 billion forints on pensions in 2023, he said.

As for last year, Gulyás said “all indicators” showed an economic growth rate of 4.5 percent, which he said was one of the highest in the European Union. As in the previous two election years, Hungary in 2022 reduced the budget deficit to 4.9 percent from 6.8 percent and the public debt to 73.5 percent of GDP from 76.8 percent, Gulyás said.

Real wages rose by 4.3 percent in the first ten months of the year despite inflation, Gulyás said. Taking into account family benefits, real wages rose by 77 percent compared with 2010, the sixth highest growth rate in the EU, he added. Citing OECD data, he said Hungary was the only one of 32 countries to register real wage growth in the third quarter of 2022.

Source: MTI