Erasmus+ was designed to bring European students closer together and strengthen academic cooperation; it was to be a vector of unity and a means of transmitting the fundamental values of our civilization. Yet the current management of the programme betrays these founding principles.
The Austrian Private Universities Conference has protested at the Brussels’ decision to exclude Vienna-based Modul University from the Erasmus+ and Horizon programmes, citing the Hungarian ownership of the institution. The body has called on the European Commission to stop its politically motivated interference in the allocation of academic funding.
While Hungarian MEPs from liberal opposition parties have supported the Erasmus ban penalizing their fellow Hungarians, Fidesz MEP Andrea Bocskor is fighting hard to get students and teachers back into the programme and thus help their academic careers.
Led by Hungarian MEPs Katalin Cseh and Anna Donáth, the left-wing majority in the European Parliament persisted in depriving Hungarian students and researchers of the benefits of Erasmus+. In a statement issued after the EP vote, Fidesz MEPs described the actions of the far-left Momentum MEPs as disgraceful.
Currently, there is ongoing correspondence between the government and the European Commission regarding the remaining contentious issues related to the frozen EU funds. The dialogue is a follow-up of Minister for Regional Development Tibor Navracsics and Minister for European Union Affairs János Bóka’s talks in Brussels in early September on the release of EU funds and the resolution of the Erasmus dispute.
Iliana Ivanova remarked on the unfortunate situation where young people are missing out on opportunities, emphasizing, however, that ‘rules are rules and must be adhered to.’
Some thoughts on why the EU-Commission should not take students hostage. And why Hungary maybe isn’t as bad as they want us believe.
‘What does the European Commission have to do with Hungarian education? In short, nothing. Education matters, both in terms of content and in terms of structure, are the responsibility of the Member States.’
Minister Navracsics warned in his letter that by cutting the Erasmus funding, the European Commission is violating Article 13 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
‘Without Christianity, there are no human rights, nor any democracy. Therefore, Fukuyama’s “Last Man” is not the triumph of human history at all, but quite the opposite: as he puts, that will indeed be the “End of History” for humanity. So, will Fukuyama be proved right in terms of humanism and the fallible fate of the “Last Man”? He has always been right.’