Compromise Solution for Hungary's Academic Community

A compromise solution that benefits the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) and all members of the scientific community will be found, Prime Minister-elect Péter Magyar said on Monday, attending the 200th re-election convention of the MTA in Budapest.

Péter Magyar told the press after delivering a speech at MTA's 200th general assembly that consultations were already under way concerning the setting up of the new Ministry of Science and Technology, and a handover process is currently taking place at the relevant ministry. The official part of this process can begin once the new government is formed, he added.

He said that informal consultations had already taken place with representatives of the scientific community, research institutes and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and that they have proposed solutions.

"It won't be difficult to find a solution, since representatives of the academic community largely agree on what is right," he said, adding that the profession's position had been known previously but was ignored by the previous government.

Péter Magyar expressed hope that the Erasmus program, if not in full, will at least be available to some extent in the new academic year beginning in September. He explained that since the application deadlines have already passed, they will open applications to higher education students through supplementary admissions and special procedures.