Budapest Risks Another Row w/Brussels Over University Funding

Chief of Staff to PM Viktor Orban Gergely Gulyas confirmed on 12 Jan that the Hungarian gov't would seek talks with EU officials to protest the withdrawal of the EU's Erasmus and Horizon Europe funding for cultural and educational institutions. The withholding of funds comes as part of Brussels' conditionality mechanism enforced due to Hungary's rule of law breaches.

• Gulyas claims that Hungary has met all of the EU's demands regarding university governance, and that if the funding is not released it would take the Commission to the European Court of Justice.
• The European Commission's decision hits institutions under the control of 'public trust foundations'. These foundations, according to human rights group the Hungary Helsinki Committee, have close ties to the Orban gov't.
• Even the political opposition has voiced concern over the EU's plans. MEP Katalin Cseh from the centrist Momentum Movement said that students should not be punished for the 'Fideszisation' of universities (referring to Orban's political party).