Photo credits: European Union

Hungary can once again access the Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ programmes following an EU Council decision on October 13 to end its rule-of-law conditionality mechanism. The move also releases €4.2 billion in previously frozen cohesion funds.

“A new chapter starts today. For Hungary and for Europe,” wrote European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on social media in response to the announcement. 

The row dates back to late 2022, when Brussels barred over 30 Hungarian institutions, including 21 universities, from accessing Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ grants over concerns that the transfer of their management to public trusts led by loyalists to right-wing prime minister Viktor Orbán breached principles of academic freedom and transparency. 

Hungary’s reinstatement in the two schemes was conditional on its government meeting strict rule-of-law and anti-corruption criteria and dismantling the controversial foundation model. This is a process that Péter Magyar and his Tisza party have been working on since coming to power in May.

The Commission proposed ending the ban in September, citing progress by the new government on a number of fronts, including minimising the conflict-of-interest risks in public interest trusts, pending their termination.

“While a few measures fell short of meeting in their entirety the commitments and goals originally envisaged, in many instances Hungary went beyond what it undertook to do in 2022,” the Council said in an October 6 document. It went on to conclude that the measures, considered as a whole, “effectively remedy the identified breaches of the principles of the rule of law and protect the Union budget.”

Providing that the reforms move forward, the Commission will release another €10 billion from the NextGenerationEU recovery fund, as well as an additional €2.2 billion tied to the completion of academic freedom milestones. 

“This is a big day for Hungarian universities,” said Eszter Lakos, a Tisza MEP who is currently the European People’s Party shadow rapporteur for the specific programme covering implementation of the next Horizon Europe. “Students at the affected Hungarian universities can once again take part in Erasmus+ and our researchers can rejoin Horizon Europe research collaborations as full partners,” she added in a social media post.