Orban extends dominance through Hungarian university reform (updated)

Richter Gedeon Vegyeszeti Gyar Nyrt

27/04/2021 11:18

(Updates with results of the vote, comments)
    By Marton Dunai and Anita Komuves
    BUDAPEST, April 27 (Reuters) - Hungary's parliament passed
legislation on Tuesday setting up foundations to take over the
running of universities and cultural institutions in a move
critics say extends the ideological imprint of the ruling
right-wing government.
    Currently, most Hungarian universities are owned by the
state but have a large amount of academic autonomy.
    The bill, drafted by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's deputy,
says the universities need to be reorganised and run by
foundations because modern conditions require a "re-thinking of
the role of the state" and the foundations will manage
institutions more efficiently.
    Orban's Fidesz party, which has a two-thirds majority in
parliament, voted for the legislation on Tuesday.
    His government will appoint boards of trustees to run the
foundations, which will control substantial real estate assets
and benefit from billions of euros worth of EU funds, while also
having considerable influence over universities' everyday life.
    The government will endow several of the foundations using
its stakes in blue chip companies MOL  MOLB.BU  and Richter
 GDRB.BU . It will also allocate over 1 trillion forints ($3.3
billion) in EU recovery funds for the revamp of universities.
    "You are planning to give away the remains of the nation's
wealth to these foundations for free," opposition MP Erzsebet
Schmuck from the LMP party said in parliament on Monday.
    In reply, Orban said state-run universities were not being
privatised and that his government was investing in higher
education by giving these foundations substantial assets.  
    Orban, who came to power in 2010, has tightened his control
over much of Hungarian public life, such as the media, education
and scientific research. 
    
    CHRISTIAN VALUES
    His government, promoting what it calls Christian,
conservative values, has strongly opposed immigration and
limited gay adoption and legal recognition of transgender
people.
    Critics say the new legislation is a government power grab
aimed at extending its ideological influence.
    Attila Chikan, a professor at the Corvinus economics
university in Budapest and a former minister in Orban's first
government in 1998, said the move was part of an "ideological
war" declared by the prime minister.
    "They make it no secret: they want to assume intellectual
power after political and economic power."
    He noted the move came after the government boosted controls
over academic research and forced a top liberal school, Central
European University, to move to Vienna in 2019.
    The bill says "the fundamental expectation is that the
foundations actively defend the survival and well-being of the
nation and the interests of enriching its intellectual
treasures". 
    The foundations running some of the cultural institutions
would be tasked with "strengthening national identity."
    The opposition said with supporters of Orban's ruling Fidesz
party, and even government ministers, sitting on the boards,
Orban could retain a degree of control over universities beyond
the 2022 election and could undermine their autonomy. 
    Gergely Arato, an MP from opposition party Democratic
Coalition, said the bill would take away "the property,
traditions, community, knowledge" of Hungarian people and give
them to government allies controlling the universities.
    The government says universities would benefit from the new
model. Istvan Stumpf, government commissioner in charge of the
changes, declined an interview with Reuters. 
    In October, students at Hungary's University of Theatre and
Film Arts blockaded their school in a row over the imposition of
a government-appointed board that protesters said undermined the
school's autonomy.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2H75AS


 (Reporting by Marton Dunai and Anita Komuves; Editing by Toby
Chopra and Giles Elgood)
 ((marton.dunai@tr.com; https://reut.rs/2OXGXbW;))