European rectors fear for academic freedom in Hungary

Organisations representing university heads in Poland, Austria and Germany have addressed an urgent appeal to the Hungarian government to maintain the self-governance and academic freedom of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Germany’s Hochschulrektorenkonferenz, the Österreichische Universitätenkonferenz – Universities Austria – and the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland are concerned about new legislation adopted by the Hungarian parliament to reorganise the Academy.

They fear that the measures, expected to take effect in September, will compromise the Academy’s academic freedom and institutional autonomy by “establishing direct government control and eliminating its basic operational funding”.

The government’s move against the Academy has sparked protests this year, including a demonstration in February by scientists who held books above their heads and formed a human chain around the Academy building.

Founded nearly 200 years ago, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia or MTA – the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – boasts dozens of research institutes with around 5,000 employees in all.

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party brought in a bill earlier this year aimed at accommodating the MTA institutes in a new network under the supervision of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network or ELKH.

Six of the 13 ELKH board members are to be appointed by the MTA and six by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, with the head of the board, appointed by the ministry, holding the casting vote. The ministry will also be responsible for the bulk of the Academy institutes’ funding.

Minister for Innovation and Technology László Palkovics explains that the new measures are aimed at developing “competitive science” and making research work “for the good of the people”.

In an earlier statement in June the Ministry for Innovation and Technology said: “More Hungarian patents and inventions are required. The current system is not efficient. Hungary is being left behind, and for this reason both the institutional system and financing must be reinforced.”

Bill ‘violates European principles’

But according to MTA President László Lovász, Hungary’s future scientific landscape will be “unsuitable for the research community”. Lovász also notes that the new law “violates European principles”.

Nevertheless, with its comfortable majority in parliament, it was easy for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party to win approval of its bill on 2 July.

The joint statement signed by the three organisations argues that the government’s measures clash with internationally applied and accepted principles of academic freedom and self-governance of scientific institutions.

And it warns that the new legislation “undermines the traditionally excellent and internationally renowned Hungarian science base, thus jeopardising Hungary’s strong European and global research partnerships”.

The statement also puts the government’s new measures into a broader political context, maintaining that they are in clear breach of a free and democratic Europe. “Such a drastic step would set an alarming example, undermining shared European values,” it stresses.

The Hungarian government is urged to withdraw the bill and maintain and guarantee the autonomy of Hungarian academic organisations and institutions.

The statement also criticises what it views as a “lack of thorough consultation with all relevant stakeholders” in the process of preparing legislation, and it backs the Hungarian scientific community’s demand for dialogue with the government and legislative authorities on the issue.

Email Michael Gardner: michael.gardner@uw-news.com