Foundation-run universities could be left out of Erasmus as early as this year, EU commissioner says

EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn told Népszava that Hungarian universities run by public foundations could be excluded from the Erasmus program as early as this autumn. This contradicts recent statements made by the Hungarian minister responsible, Tibor Navracsics, who claimed that only the fate of payments starting next September is up in the air.

Hahn said they were still waiting for the Hungaian government to implement the measures set as a condition for the release of the €6.3 billion blocked in the rule of law procedure. He said they had received the Hungarian package of proposals, but it contained so little new information that it was difficult to respond to.

Only conditional funding

Tempus Public Foundation published the list of winners of the 2023 Erasmus+ calls, but universities run by public interest trusts are not yet included in it, as they are only eligible for conditional funding.

Last December, the Council of the European Union, which is made up of ministers from the member states, banned trusts from EU commitments, thus also excluding Hungary's "model-changing" universities with such backgrounds. At the suggestion of the European Commission, the Council found that these foundations weren't operating transparently enough, that having political decision makers sitting on their boards represented a conflict of interest, and that the Hungarian government had failed to address the Commission's objections, which had been made public months earlier.

Since then, the Hungarian government hasn't succeeded in having the restriction lifted: while they claim they are waiting for the European Commission to act, the EU body said its expectations were clear.

While applications from universities run by public interest trusts were also reviewed at Tempus' board meeting, according to the EU Council's decision taken late last year, Tempus Public Foundation cannot currently make legal commitments to such institutions.

The statement from Tempus stresses that the Council's decision is temporary and will remain in force until further information from the European Commission. Following the evaluation, the organization's board of trustees reached a decision of conditional support for the Erasmus+ Student and Staff Mobility category.

How many students may be impacted by the withdrawal of funds?

According to an article in Hvg.hu, thousands of students could be affected next year if the government fails to reach an agreement with the European Commission on Erasmus+ student exchange scholarships. According to their calculations, in the absence of such an agreement,

up to 4500 students at universities run by public interest trusts could miss out on the opportunity to spend six months studying in another EU country.

Due to the summer break, negotiations with the Commission are likely to resume only in September. In a statement last Friday, Tempus stressed that "The mobility framework is in place and the financial resources are available to ensure that the needs of universities are fully met up until 30 June next year". According to the foundation, the decision means that applicants will only be able to sign the grant contract if the European Commission gives its approval by 23 November 2023.

A few days ago, the European Commission's Spokesman Balázs Ujvári said that the government would have until 1 September to have the ban lifted. According to him, the National Assembly must first adopt the legislation remedying the Commission's objections, which the EC will then evaluate (it has one month to do so), and only then can the Council decide to lift the restriction.

As reported by Válasz Online and Szabad Európa, the time remaining seems very short, but according to an earlier Népszava article, the European Commission was working on a temporary reprieve. The 23 November deadline mentioned by Tempus seems to be feasible if they manage to fulfil the criteria in time, but the funds that stand to be lost in the case of the Horizon applications would still make an agreement urgent.

Last Thursday Tibor Navracsics, Hungarian Minister for Regional Development, who is leading the negotiations, told Telex that "They haven't yet informed us" about the 1 September deadline, and that Erasmus+ funding is guaranteed until the second half of 2024.

The transparency of public foundations is part of the interlinked set of 30 or so conditions that is blocking the release of most of the new EU funding available for Hungary as of 2021.