Reacting to the recent news at today’s Government Info session of the EU pushing Hungarian universities out of its popular Erasmus+ programs, Gergely Gulyás, the minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office called the current situation “intolerable and unacceptable.”
As a temporary solution, the current Erasmus grant will be paid for by the government. So for this year, the government will provide the funds, and if there are problems with next year's Erasmus program, it will cover the costs of scholarships once again.
The minister noted that there is a long list of Western European universities where active politicians sit on the boards of trustees and governing bodies. And yet, when the agreement with the European Commission was reached, the Hungarian government followed the conflict of interest rules as requested by Brussels.
Gergely Gulyás also added that more stringent regulations would have been willingly implemented by the Hungarian government, but it was Brussels who deemed it unnecessary.
“It is unacceptable and intolerable what the European Commission is doing to Hungary,” said Minister Gulyás.
According to international databases, the universities affected by the EC’s action have performed amazingly well since the change in their operational model: The total number of scientific publications increased by 18 percent in one year, the total publication output increased by 13.6 percent, and the number of publications indexed increased by 16.7 percent.
Minister Gulyás said that the government hopes that the case can be settled “quickly” and “peacefully,” otherwise “it will take the matter to court.”