21 universities maintained by private Hungarian foundations will lose the possibility to receive funding from the Erasmus+ programme as well as from Horizon Europe due to the recently decided sanctions of the European Commission. The restrictions only apply to contracts concluded after 15 December 2022. Projects and stays abroad that have already been approved are therefore not affected.
As reasons for the measures the Commission names reforms in the country that have not been implemented as well as conflicts of interest and the risk of corruption since the boards of trustees of the university foundations not only include academics but also officials that are close to the government and politicians.
How will the restrictions affect Erasmus+ projects?
Planned stays abroad from the 2020 to 2022 calls and strategic partnerships are currently not affected by the decision and can continue to be implemented.
In the context of the new call 2023, for which the submission deadlines are in February and March of this year, it is expected that the sanctioned Hungarian universities will have limited possibilities to participate. Stays of Austrian students in Hungary will probably remain unaffected but stays of Hungarian students abroad as well as Erasmus+ project cooperations with Hungarian institutions will be affected.
Especially in the case of cooperation partnerships (in KA2) Austrian institutions preparing a project proposal for the 2023 call are advised to contact the Hungarian universities before including them in the project. Care should also be taken to ensure that, in case that the Hungarian project partner drops out, there are sufficient institutions to reach the minimum number of project partners.
If you have any questions, please contact OeAD, national agency for Erasmus+.
Further information on the website of the Hungarian Tempus Public Foundation (National Agency for Erasmus+)
