Navracsics to travel to Brussels next Wednesday for meetings on Erasmus

The press office of Tibor Navracsics has confirmed to Telex the news published on ATV.hu on Tuesday that as of next Wednesday, the Hungarian Minister for Regional Development and the utilization of EU Funds will be holding talks about the Erasmus and Horizon programs with EU Commissioners Johannes Hahn and Mariya Gabriel in Brussels. One of the objectives of the meeting is to formally clarify the Commission's specific expectations.

The press office said that Navracsics will not be going to Brussels with a list in hand, but with questions on whether anything is still to be expected, whether there still are any outstanding issues that need to be clarified. Navracsics' press department thought it was important to mention this because ATV, citing government sources, wrote that during his negotiations, the minister would like to be informed about whether there still are any further expectations on the part of the Commission. Specifically, the question mentioned was whether there are more groups (and if so, then which ones are they) other than university students and young people in Hungary who should be expecting any sort of retaliation (similarly to those affected by the withdrawal of Erasmus and Horizon funds) and what this would be.

Navracsics – who in his first reaction to the news spoke about a likely misunderstanding – wrote a letter to the two commissioners, Hahn and Gabriel. The letter was published by the daily Magyar Nemzet. Among others, the letter states that “the steps taken by the Commission are in violation of article 13 of the EU charter of Fundamental Rights by rendering programs, research and training impossible, as well as putting institutions and scientific assistants at a disadvantage. The decision of the Commision is detrimental to decades-long international professional cooperations and is limiting the freedom of scientific research.”

The news that Hungarian universities which operate as public trust foundations or are maintained by such foundations will not be able to receive fresh grants from the Erasmus+ exchange programme funded by the European Union, broke on 9 January.

There are 21 such Hungarian institutions, and according to Népszava, the reason behind the decision is that the EC does not approve of the fact that Fidesz politicians have been given leading positions in these foundations. One of them for example is Navracsics himself, who is the chairman of the Board of Trustees of Pannon University.