The European Parliament's culture and education committee and budget committee held a joint debate on the accessibility of the Erasmus+ program. At the session, Andrea Bocskor, an MEP of Fidesz, presented the situation of students and professors at Hungarian model universities excluded from Erasmus+ and researchers excluded from Horizon Europe.
As a representative, teacher and parent, I would like to emphasize how unacceptable and disproportionate it is that two hundred thousand Hungarian students, twenty thousand teachers and twenty thousand researchers, that is, almost a quarter of a million European Union citizens is total, are adversely affected by the exclusion,
she said, adding that she considers it inadmissible that, although the Hungarian government has fulfilled many of the conditions set by the Commission, it keeps coming forward with additional ones.
The MEP highlighted that out of the 17 landmarks set for Hungary, a total of two applied to the model universities, and the Hungarian government has already met them. Once these conditions had been fulfilled, Brussels imposed new ones.
Andrea Bocskor asked Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, when they will answer the question of whether the deadline for applications for last year's funding will be extended until May 31, 2024.
In her reply, Commissioner Ivanova stressed that discussions are ongoing, adding that she is fully committed to reaching an agreement on the issue.
At the end of the session, Bogdan Rzonca, an MEP of the Polish PiS, also pointed out that it is problematic that so many Hungarian students, teachers and researchers were excluded from EU programs. In her second question, Andrea Bocskor asked participants whether they saw the European Commission's failure to respond to Hungary's package of proposals for four months as foot-dragging.
You, the European institutions, are excluding from European mobility programs researchers and students from a country that had two Nobel prize winners last year. Where is fairness? Where is proportionality?
asked the MEP of Fidesz, who received the same answer as before: negotiations are ongoing, careful consideration is needed and a solution satisfactory to both parties has not yet been found.
