The Hungarian government is open to removing government officials from public trust foundations running universities – Gulyás

The case of the Erasmus scholarships

According to Gulyás, the government learned about the Erasmus issue three days ago, not on 15 December. The minister said that the Commission's implementation decision states that the boards of trustees of foundations are not eligible for direct EU funding, but they did not think this would include Erasmus, as – according to him – the program is aimed at students.

Regarding the agreement with the EU, Gulyás said that the government has been in continuous negotiations with the European Commission (EC) on all the requirements and the necessary legislative amendments. The Hungarian government would have been open to removing political officials from university boards of trustees, but the EC did not ask for such a thing, according to Gulyás. Therefore, the EC is now acting inconsistently.

Gulyás then listed several German universities "which have German government officials on their advisory board". (Although, according to Gulyás, the people involved are members of the "advisory" boards of the German universities in question, not of the governing boards of trustees that make the crucial decisions. The boards of trustees of the outsourced Hungarian universities, populated by government officials, are not mere advisory bodies.)

If necessary, would the government be willing to recall governmental actors from the boards of trustees of the affected universities? – the question was raised.

The government isn't able to recall them, but it is able to introduce legislation on conflicts of interest that would prevent them from staying on," Gulyás said. He added that it was not clear what the European Commission (EC) wanted. According to Gulyás, the government negotiated with the EC in good faith, but no such request regarding the universities was made. In any case, the government would be open to it, he concluded.

In contrast, in December, the Council of National Ministers, with 25 of the 27 members voting in favour, stated that

"despite repeated requests from the Commission, the legislation still does not prevent high-ranking officials, including senior political leaders of the Parliament and Hungarian autonomous bodies, from sitting on the boards of public interest trusts".

According to the panel, Hungary also introduced an exception in November "to allow senior political leaders to hold other remunerated positions, including on the boards of public interest trusts".

In the end, Gulyás concluded that the budgetary impact of Erasmus scholarships is around HUF 5 billion for next year, so if there is no agreement with the European Commission on the matter, the government can cover these costs from its own resources.

What was Orbán doing in Slovenia?

At the beginning of the year, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán travelled to Rome, and then to Slovenia with his wife. The plane of the Hungarian Defence Forces happened to be in Rome and Slovenia at the same time they were there.

Did Orbán and his wife, Anikó Lévai travel on it? – Telex asked, to which Gulyás replied "I was not present".

We also asked what public function Orbán was fulfilling with his trip to Rome and Slovenia, where the Prime Minister had a meeting with the former Slovenian PM, Janez Janša – especially in light of the fact that Mr. Janša is no longer a government official? Gulyás responded by stating that "we will presumably disagree on this", but the meeting with the former prime minister of Slovenia seems to be an official programme, and not a "private encounter".

Hungary no longer a host of the 2024 handball championship

The costs of organizing are so high that Hungary is pulling out of hosting the 2024 European handball championship. We would not have hosted it alone, but jointly with Switzerland and Austria, so the two countries will now host the event.

Why is the Hungarian government so friendly with Milorad Dodik?

It is in Hungary's economic interest, and of strategic importance for the nation to have investments in the Balkans that strengthen relations between the region and Hungary, the minister said, referring to the Hungarian government's financial support for the Serbian part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Eximbank providing a 45 billion forint loan to the Milorad Dodik-led entity.

"This is not a political issue, but an economic one," Gulyás said.

Milorad Dodik has just recently decided to honor Vladimir Putin with an award. Commenting on this, Gulyás said that he and Dodik most likely don't agree on this matter.

Weapons for Ukraine

Hungary has a special geopolitical situation, and that is that we could only transport weapons through Transcarpathia, which is why we are not participating in the shipments. This is to protect the hundreds of thousands of Hungarians living there," the minister explained.

Ukraine is also likely to receive German-made Leopard tanks. Everyone, including the German government, wants to avoid a world war, nevertheless, the Hungarian government is constantly warning of the possibility of escalation.

But no one can question the moral basis of the arms deliveries, since Ukraine is the country under attack, Gulyás said.