Head of State in Talks with European Commission President

Hungary Today 2024.01.17.

Katalin Novák traveled to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum, where she held her first meeting with the President of the European Commission. The President of the Republic reported on the meeting on her social media page.

“There are many challenging issues we had to discuss with Ursula von der Leyen,” the President wrote. She added that the meeting focused on Hungarian youth and the Erasmus+ program:

I hope that young Hungarians will not be deprived of opportunities to study abroad moving forward, either.“

Fact

The Erasmus case was triggered at the beginning of last year when it emerged that Hungarian higher education institutions maintained by public interest trusts were not eligible for funding from the EU-funded Erasmus+ cooperation and educational exchange program, and the Horizon Europe research and innovation framework program. Students who attend higher education institutions that are maintained and run by a public foundation are therefore excluded from the Erasmus opportunity. Shortly afterwards, a number of people in or linked to government positions resigned from their trusteeships, but the matter has still not been resolved.

Ursula von der Leyen, speaking to Euronews about Hungary on Tuesday, said that if necessary, the EU would find a way to avoid the Hungarian Prime Minister’s veto and approve the EUR 50 billion special fund for Ukraine. The package, aiming to provide financial support to Kyiv until 2027, was vetoed by Hungary at a summit in mid-December. The unanimous vote failed and EU leaders will next meet again on February 1.

“I think it is very important to engage with all 27 Member States of the European Union to get the EUR 50 billion for four years for Ukraine up and running,” the European Commission President told reporters at the World Economic Forum.

Prior to the meeting, Hungarian officials have made two key demands in exchange for the lifting of the veto, the news portal recalls.

The first is to split the Facility funding into four annual tranches, the second is to extend the deadline for spending the COVID-19 recovery funds.

Von der Leyen would not comment on the requests regarding these issues, but made clear that they would find a way to approve the EUR 50 billion fund – with or without Hungary’s blessing.

“My personal priority is to have an agreement by 27 (countries). And if this is not possible, we are prepared for an agreement by 26,” she said, stressing that she would “prefer an agreement by 27.”

A Hungarian-Ukrainian Summit on the Horizon

A Hungarian-Ukrainian summit would only make sense if it could lead to significant results, Minister Szijjártó said.Continue reading

Via Euronews; Featured image: MTI/Sándor-palota