University students can apply for Erasmus scholarships in the fall semester in the same way as before, the Minister of Regional Development announced in Brussels on Wednesday.
Tibor Navracsics, who had a meeting with EU Commissioners Elisa Ferreira, Johannes Hahn and Marija Gabriel, told Hungarian journalists that he asked the European Commission to send a letter to the Tempus Public Foundation, which coordinates international mobility applications, in which he reassures the university students and the authorities of the Member States that there is no interruption in participation in the Eurasmus+ program.
He said:
the letter would be a confidence booster explaining that university students can apply for scholarships in the fall semester in the same way as before. Since an agreement can be reached on this issue by the summer, the funding of the Horizon Europe and Eurasmus+ programs will continue even after 2024
said the minister.
He also said that a clarifying letter has already been received from the European Commission regarding the Horizon Europe program, which explains to the consortium partners and Hungarian universities that for the time being, applications and participation in the program can continue smoothly. If no agreement is reached, it will only cause problems in the future, he added.
Tibor Navracsics said about his discussion regarding the regulation of public interest foundations:
the most important thing is to clarify how it is possible to achieve that universities operating in the form of public interest foundations can participate in the Erasmus and Horizon Europe programs as soon as possible. The Hungarian side will now send a related proposal to Brussels for consultation, and in case of consensus, it will submit its amendment proposal, which, as he said, will settle the issue.
According to his information, the dispute is with the European Commission in the case of conflict of interest rules. In this area, it has not yet been possible to sufficiently determine which positions are incompatible with the membership of the board of trustees, he explained.
With regard to the length of the mandate of the board of trustees, which can be renewed once, the minister emphasized: the definition of this, as well as the length of time after the termination of the membership, someone can take on a new board of trustees, will not hinder the course of the negotiations or the agreement.
He expressed his hope that an agreement will soon be reached with the European Commission, and that the draft law could be presented to the Hungarian parliament as early as the second half of April.
In accordance with the promises of the EU committee, if we proceed in this way with the negotiations and can carry out the evaluation of Hungarian achievements by the summer, then we will actually be able to access the EU funds
Tibor Navracsics added.
Source: Magyar Hírlap
Picture: Péter Lakatos
