Hungary will rejoin the Erasmus student exchange programme “as early as the next academic year” and “phase out” state-linked foundations that have taken control of universities, the European Commission president has announced.
Ursula Von Der Leyen praised the country’s new leader, Peter Magyar, for making “great progress” on academic freedom as she welcomed him to Brussels on 29 May.
Hungary is looking to unlock €16.4 billion (£14.2 billion) in European Union (EU) funds that were previously frozen under its former leader, Viktor Orban, including access to bloc’s flagship research funding programme, Horizon.
“We have also made great progress on the protection of fundamental rights in Hungary, notably on academic freedom”, Von Der Leyen said in a statement released as initial talks concluded.
“Hungary will be gradually phasing out the Public Interest Trusts, the PITs, and pass legislation to address concerns about conflict of interest and integrity rules. This is a big step forward,” she added, referring to the private entities, or foundations, created by Orban’s government to manage universities that have been criticised for their lack of transparency.
