Orbán cabinet: Brussels must stop freezing Hungarian universities out of Erasmus, Horizon

The European Commission must put an end to the exclusion of 21 Hungarian universities from the Erasmus and Horizon programmes, the culture and innovation ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ministry said it is submitting a bill during the autumn session of parliament to amend rules on the operation of boards of trustees of foundational universities with the goal of putting an end to “the discrimination against researchers and students of foundational universities excluded from Erasmus and Horizon”.

The statement said “Brussels” was freezing Hungarian university students and researchers out of EU programs in order to put the government under political pressure.

Following a public consultation process, the ministry will submit its draft bill, “which is the same as the proposal the government has been waiting for Brussels to respond to for the past 10 months”.

“We have had numerous negotiations with Brussels but without any progress made,” the statement said.

“The bill seeks to settle all issues: fixed-term board membership and conflicts of interest that the European Commission raised concerns over,” the statement said, adding, however, that the commission’s proposals on excluding Hungarian rectors and professors from board membership and nominating foreign NGO representatives as board members would not be accepted.

The statement said that participation in Erasmus and Horizon as EU citizens “is a fundamental right of Hungarian university students”, citing Veronika Varga-Bajusz, the state secretary for higher education and vocational training.