Navracsics hopes to rescue Erasmus and Horizon

Based on insider sources, a news report suggests the controversy over EU-financed academic exchange programmes will be overcome by next spring.

On Index, Balázs Gyöngyösi is confident that the government will make all the concessions the European Commission may require concerning the structure of Hungary’s foundation-run universities, which have been excluded from the Erasmus student exchange and the Horizon research exchange programmes from next year. (See BudaPost, January 23) He calls Tibor Navracsics, the Minister in charge of the talks with the European Commission ‘a black-belt diplomat’ and deems his task significantly more manageable than it was last year when he succeeded in agreeing on the concessions necessary to release the transfer of frozen EU funds to Hungary. (See BudaPost, December 19, 2022.) Quoting unnamed insider sources, Gyöngyösi suggests that the Hungarian government is ready to withdraw high-ranking politicians from the boards of the university foundations or make virtually any concessions requested, but needs the European Commission to specify its exact demands.

Tags: Erasmus, Navracsics