Brussels, Thursday 23 May 2024 (MTI) – Hungary spends a total of HUF 34 billion a year on internationalisation programmes that fund research anywhere in the world that will advance our economic interests, Balázs Hankó, State Secretary for Higher Education, Innovation, Vocational Training and Adult Education of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation (KIM), said in Brussels on Thursday.

The State Secretary arrived in the Belgian capital to attend a meeting of EU competitiveness ministers.

In his press conference, he stressed the importance of boosting European competitiveness, pointing out that China and the United States have overtaken the continent in this respect in the last 15 years. “Europe’s scientific performance has declined by about 8 percentage points, so a competitiveness turnaround is needed,” he underlined. According to Balázs Hankó, the EU has spent EUR 75 billion on the Horizon EU scholarship scheme, which has not been properly used. He said that in recent years, Hungary has been funding research that has a direct impact on the economy, society and people’s well-being, and that leads to real results, while also linking universities with economic actors.

The State Secretary explained that out of the HUF 34 billion annual internationalisation budget, HUF 10 billion will be allocated to the Pannonia scholarship programme offering short and long-term mobility schemes, and HUF 8 billion to the HU-rizon programme, which aims to strengthen international cooperation between excellent Hungarian researchers. He announced that the Hungarian government has earmarked HUF 6 billion to enable the world’s top researchers to start working in Hungary.

“In addition to this, we support a range of bilateral cooperation through cooperation between countries. We have also launched a special scholarship programme to participate in scientific conferences,” he added.

Balázs Hankó also said that no progress has been made on Brussels’ discriminatory decision to deny some Hungarian universities access to Horizon funding.

“This decision taken a year and a half ago, which excludes researchers and university students in Hungary from the mobility programmes and the Horizon research programme, is without any legal basis and applies double standards,” he stressed.

At the meeting, the State Secretary drew the attention of his foreign colleagues to the fact that, according to the decision, outstanding researchers such as Ferenc Krausz and Gérard Moreau, Nobel Prize-winning physicists from Semmelweis University and the University of Szeged, respectively, will not be eligible for Horizon Programme funding.

Balázs Hankó stressed that Brussels should really focus on Europe’s competitiveness instead of political debates that put Europe and the continent’s future at a disadvantage.