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The European Commission keeps sinking ever deeper into its own contradictions with its recent proposal to include students from Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia in the European taxpayer-funded Erasmus+ university exchange program. All the while, Hungarian students are still excluded from accessing these funds due to Brussels’ lawfare against the government of Viktor Orbán.
As Politico reported, the proposal to bring thousands of North-African students is part of Brussels’ “Pact for the Mediterranean” initiative, that would cost cash-strapped member-states as much as EUR 42 billion, if accepted. As EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica explained, the program would see a large increase in the issuance of visas for young people from Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. She also claimed that the proposal is in fact a means for preventing illegal migration. However, a closer look at the plan makes it clear that this is a de facto legalization of mass migration from the North African region in order “to address Europe’s labor needs.” In other words, European universities would educate a North African-imported workforce for the European labor market, with no obligation for these students to ever return to their native countries.
In 2022 the European Commission has voted to exclude Hungarian students from the Erasmus+ and the Horizon Europe research and innovation program’s funds quoting the transformation of our universities into public interest trusts as a reason. They objected to the fact that government officials were sitting in the board of trustees in some of these institutions. Yet even after the resignation of all government official from the boards, and a further legal amendment that was meant to harmonize university governance with EU practice, the Commission still refuses to release funds for Hungarian students.
The Hungarian government has responded by introducing its own education exchange program called “Pannonia”, that has not only replaced Erasmus, but has exceeded it in its scope. Now though, with the active assistance from MEPs representing the Hungarian opposition Tisza Party, the European Parliament is trying to undermine the Pannonia program itslef that has so far managed to send close to 9000 Hungarian students to European and other international universities. Balázs Hankó, Hungarian state secretary for higher education and innovation, said that
the blocking of Erasmus funds was “without any legal basis and applies double standards”.
While many believe that the European Commission’s decision to block Erasmus funds is a political tool meant to turn Hungarian students and academics against the government of Viktor Orbán, any lingering doubts about Brussels’ politically motivated lawfare can be dispelled with one look at the state of academic freedoms in the three soon-to-be Erasmus beneficiary North African countries.
In Tunisia, for instance, between 2021-2023 the government dismissed several university rectors and deans, such as the rector of the University of Manouba. Academics also face prosecution under cybercrime and defamation laws for social media posts or public statements not aligned with historical narratives pushed by the government. There are continuing attempts to influence curricula, especially in history and social sciences, such as the case when in 2023 the Ministry of Higher Education intervened in textbook approvals.
Ursual von der Leyen. Photo: Alain ROLLAND, European Union.
Europe and the Mediterranean cannot exist without each other”.
From a Hungarian perspective though it is seriously disconcerting that the Erasmus+ program is morphing into a European form of USAID under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen. It is fast becoming an instrument for generating mass migration from North African Muslim countries, ones notoriously reluctant to accept the repatriation of their illegal migrant citizens from Europe. Erasmus has also been turned into a means of punishing conservative governments in the EU under some vague pretext of “lack of transparency”. Just like the now defunct USAID, it also relies on reports by radical NGOs and Brussels’ political allies.
As national conservative governments are surging across the bloc, it is not impossible that their students will face similar bans unless they do not conform to Brussels’ whims and political dictate. Should this happen, the competitiveness of European universities, whose global ranking is already experiencing a rapid decline, will suffer further. They could find it increasingly difficult to attract or retain the best young talent.
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p style=”text-align: justify”>Featured Image: Facebook/Erasmus+
The post EU to Open Erasmus+ to North Africans While Funds for Hungarian Students Blocked appeared first on Hungary Today.
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