Orbán backs down: EU block on Hungarian Erasmus programs can end soon
The EU block of the Erasmus and Horizon programs concerning Hungarian foundation universities might end soon, Tibor Navracsics, the minister of regional development, announced.
Erasmus-gate: what is the EU’s problem?
Mr Navracsics said the Hungarian prime minister supported the idea of throwing out his ministers from the boards of trustees of the foundations that run 21 universities in Hungary, including the Semmelweis and Corvinus universities in Budapest, or the universities of Szeged, Pécs and Debrecen. Portfolio.hu suggests that there would be a new law pronouncing the conflict of interest concerning government positions and university foundations.
The Hungarian media outlet said that Brussels would probably ask the government to withdraw ministers, secretaries and deputy secretaries from the university board of trustees. The circle can be broader, two EU diplomats added. They added that in West Europe, such boards include active politicians. But their powers are much more limited compared to their Hungarian counterparts. For example, they cannot decide about EU financial support.
Navracsics said as soon as Brussels makes it clear which officials should not be board members, they would draft a modification to the relevant law and discuss it on the next goverment meeting.
We wrote before that the European Union had written a letter to the Hungarian government, in which they withdrew the Erasmus support from Hungarian foundation universities for the time being. The ban applies to applications evaluated after 15 December 2022.
Government: Europe’s institutions must represent European people
Europe’s very existence is dependent on its citizens, so EU policymaking must better represent the European people as well as reflecting the agendas of its institutions, Tibor Navracsics, the minister of regional development told a conference on Monday.
Navracsics said EU institutions must overhaul the way they think, and integration must no longer be seen as an “elite project”. Regarding current debates on migration, market protection, and energy, pressure is building for decisions made at the European level to represent the opinion of European people, he told the conference organised by the Századvég Foundation to discuss the findings of its Europe Project research in 2022.
The minister said Brexit was a warning sign must not be ignored which went to the heart of the identity of European integration. It was also a signal that EU institutions must rethink the future of Europe together with its citizens, he added.
Read also Hungary to take legal action against Brussels
The question of whether Europe can exist without Europeans is “absurd”, yet nascent European integration after the second world war was an “elite project” which was not based on the cooperation of citizens but of states, he said. The migration and climate crisis, the war in Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis have “created tension points” within the bloc that now impact the everyday life of citizens as well as the ties between member states and the EU, he said. The next generation will be the first since the second world war to face worse financial and career opportunities than their parents, he said.
“So Europe is living through hard times — but this should not speak against it, but for it,” he said. The past 70 years of European integration have shown that “all hurdles and crises can be vanquished if European institutions look at what connects rather than what separates them,” he said. He said participation in European Parliament elections had been falling gradually, indicating that Europeans were not especially politically engaged. Voters saw EP elections in which the turnout was 30-40 percent as of “secondary interest”, he added.
The 2019 election, however, saw a turning point, as the euro and migrant crisis of previous years were topics that appeared to concern citizens living in countries with different geopolitical backgrounds. Now the two most important topics are migration and climate change, he said. Kinga Kenyeres, the director of organiser Századvég Konjunktúrakutató, said the institute’s Project Europe gauged the opinion of people for the 8th time this year. The survey included 38 countries in the EU and the Western Balkans, and included the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway, she said.
Source: MTI, portfolio.hu
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4 Comments
This fight is over culture: national and populist, or liberal, bureaucratic and woke. I prefer the former. The latter makes me sick and willing to fight to defeat it.
“Europe’s very existence is dependent on its citizens, so EU policymaking must better represent the European people as well as reflecting the agendas of its institutions” says Tibor.
Well, Tibor, Europe does represent European people. Most “European” people support the actions against the very un”european” loyalty of our Hungarian government at this this time. Hungarian leaders are the thorn here, and it not good for the regular people that live and work here. His hero, Trump. is described as:
The former president’s familiar tactics of defiance, counterattacks and delays appear less successful than ever as investigations and court proceedings against him grind on.
Same here.
Is this ANOTHER case of the Prime Minister of Hungary – Victor Orban – being RIGHTFULLY – SHAMED & HUMILIATED?
Let it not be FORGOTTEN, in near 13 years in office, this Orban Government – have IGNORED – disrespected EDUCATION.
Orban – has FAILED dismally, to INVEST in Education, and waste funds on “other” social or play-time projects.
Education – opens windows of OPPORTUNITIES.
Sadly we in Hungary are behind the “eight ball” – that sees us operating, throughout an Education system, more aligned to the 19th century, than the 21st century, buildings, conditions, include wages & salaries to EDUCATORS, and that to bring it into the 21st century NEEDS billions of forints to be INVESTED into it.
Orban & his Government, like the NEEDS to up-grade the appalling conditions of Public Hospitals – this Orban Government – will NEVER be able to INVEST.
It’s even worse than that, A. Tendon. “Woke” is both Marxist (communism for the masses) and fascist (corporatocracy and elitist leadership), i.e, WEF/”You’ll own nothing and be happy” while all of your assets are transferred to the Lords of the plantation; atheist; degenerate; hates Christianity and that Hungary is a Christian country; works through the divide and conquer strategy (thus the mass importation of non westerners who are hostile to the many different European cultures and traditions) and, downright Satanic – as evidenced by the extreme violence they’ve brought wherever they gain control; the sexualization of children and society, in general; pushing gender confusion; nomalizing LGBTQIA and pedophilia; and, last but not least, the rise in war mongering. Hungary stands like a beacon of sanity in the face of the chaos. I know that it would be very difficult but the sooner Hungary can leave the EU, the better off it will be. I cannot give in to those totalitarian freaks in Brussels who seek to usurp the sovereignty of nations who were lured into their trap of economic integration. As everyone can see, that was lie and the goal is complete political control and spiritual corruption.