Government official: Hungary ‘expects progress from EU’ on Erasmus+ access

Hungary expects the European Union to give answers and to make progress regarding the country’s participation in the Erasmus+ programme for students and professors as “the ban goes against European values”, the state secretary for higher education, innovation, training and adult education said in Brussels on Monday.

Hungary and Erasmus

Speaking after a meeting of the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council (EYCS), Balázs Hankó said there had been no steps taken towards lifting the ban, even though the Hungarian government had sent an amendment package to the EC some six months ago in response to “unfounded proposals of the European Commission on conflicts of interest of board members” of universities undergoing government-sponsored reform, as well as the board members’ eligibility for two six-year terms.

While promoting the importance of international mobility programmes, the EC “is employing double standards and a discriminative decision” to ban 200,000 Hungarian students and 20,000 researchers and lecturers from the programme, he said.

In response, Hungary started the Pannonia Programme “welcoming students and researchers of EU member states and third countries to Hungary”, he said.