Orban seen entrenching right-wing dominance through Hungarian university reform

Richter Gedeon Vegyeszeti Gyar Nyrt

26/04/2021 23:01

By Marton Dunai and Anita Komuves
    BUDAPEST, April 27 (Reuters) - Hungary is set to pass
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 they need to be privatised because modern conditions
require a "re-thinking of the role of the state" and the
foundations will manage institutions more efficiently.
    Orban's 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 drug maker
Richter  GDRB.BU . It will also allocate over 1 trillion forints
($3.3 billion) worth of EU recovery funds for the revamp of
universities.
    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, as he seeks to reshape national
culture. Orban set out the changes in a speech in 2018 when he
envisioned embedding his political system in a new "cultural
era".
    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 was the next move in
extending its ideological influence and power grab.
    "This is part of the ideological war that Orban declared two
years ago," said Attila Chikan, a professor at the Corvinus
economics university in Budapest and a former minister in
Orban's first government in 1998.
    "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, to be voted on in parliament on Tuesday, 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 have patriotic tasks such as "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
($1 = 300.8700 forints)

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