The positions of the Hungarian Government and the European Commission regarding the amendment of the higher education legislation last week have converged, State Secretary for Education László Palkovics informed the Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday in Brussels after he had talks with Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission. According to the State Secretary, the First Vice-President of the European Commission understood the arguments of the Hungarian Government.
Closing down the Central European University is not an objective of the Government, there would be no reason for that. With the widely disputed amendment of the higher education legislation, the Government would merely like to find a solution to certain issues, Minister of State for Education László Palkovics said in Brussels on Tuesday.
“There is a misleading and false Soros campaign going on with relation to the Soros university. The first lie of this campaign is that if the amended Act on Higher Education comes into force then the Soros university will be forced to close. This is not true, and according to the new Hungarian regulations it will continue to operate, launch new courses and issue diplomas”, Minister of State for Education László Palkovics informed EU Commissioner for Education Tibor Navracsics in Brussels, and with regard to which he also held discussions with Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans.
There is increasing interest in Roma culture and majority society has become more open towards the Roma during the past year, according to Minister of State for Social Affairs and Social Inclusion Károly Czibere.
Hungary was extremely shocked to hear about the latest terrorist attacks against the Coptic Christian community in Egypt, which occurred while people were at Mass on Palm Sunday in the Mar Guirguis Church in Tanta, north of Cairo, and a few hours ago in Alexandria. According to news reports the attacks have claimed over 30 lives and injured at least 50 people.
The work performed by non-governmental organisations, which reinforces and assists communities, provides an overall authentic picture of the state of mind of Hungarian society, and about its good intentions and willingness to act.
“Religious life was not the only thing dictatorships wanted to destroy, they also persecuted monks who undertook public duties and managed orphanages, hospitals, schools and the distribution of aid in the interests of hundreds of thousands of people in need”, the Ministry of Human Capacities’ Minister of State for Churches, Minorities and Social Affairs said on Wednesday in Mátraverebély-Szentkút.
Austria has abandoned the plan of reducing the family support of foreigners working there; the decision which also concerns Hungarian families is a great achievement of Austrian-Hungarian talks, Zoltán Balog, Minister of Human Capacities stated on the programme 180 minutes of Kossuth Rádió on Wednesday morning.
Over the past few days the CEU has been continuously misleading the public – including scholars and organisations of international repute. Instead of complying with legislative requirements, the Soros university has chosen to try to retain its privileges at all costs – in the process of which it has used all means at its disposal. For example, with reference to its permit from the Education Office it made a false statement, which it was later obliged to modify.
“The proposed legislative amendment concerning foreign universities serves Hungary’s interests and those of the Hungarian people, the new regulations can be conformed to and “assure rights, not privileges”, Minister of Human Capacities Zoltán Balog said at an exposé launching the debate on the Bill to amend the Act on Higher Education in Parliament on Tuesday.