Hungarian Academy of Sciences to be put under state oversight in August

The plan had been already made but the government waited for the end of the EP voting. The Hungarian leadership is planning to take all the research centres from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on the 1^st of August and to put the Academy under state oversight.

Index reported that the war regarding Hungarian researches and the future of Hungarian science has come to an end and in the next few weeks the first steps that lead to putting the Academy under state oversight will be undertaken as estimated by many pessimistic scientists and researchers. The Hungarian Ministry of Innovation lead by László Palkovics made the complete plan to reform the Academy and its research centres without asking the permission and acceptance of the institution. This new program would be handed to the Parliament in the upcoming days or weeks, including the following:

According to the new program, all the research centres under the supervision of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences would be taken away and given to the Lóránd Eötvös Research Network, mainly led by the Hungarian government. Furthermore, a newly established law would oblige the Academy to give all its fortune to the government for free usage.

Palkovics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest — *Photo: MTI / Tibor Illyés*

A few months ago it seemed that both the Ministry of Innovation and the Academy would reach an agreement which would have been beneficial for everyone but this trying failed very soon. After rejecting the plans of the government, Palkovics stated that the changes would be done, no matter what the Academy’s leadership are eager to do to stop the project. Furthermore, in the last couple of week, the Academy’s people were not invited to the negotiations about the institute’s future, they were not informed about any steps the ministry took forward, and their letters were not answered.

Hungarian Academy of Sciences reaches an agreement with the ministry

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) and the innovation and technology ministry (ITM) have reached a detailed agreement on the legal and financial foundations for the continued uninterrupted operation of the Academy’s network of research institutions, MTA said on Sunday.

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The government’s program about the Hungarian Academy of Sciences consists of the following points:

To take all the fifteen research centres from the Academy away
To establish the Lóránd Eötvös Research Network out of the taken fifteen research centres
To set up a thirteen-member leadership for the network out of six people from the government, six from the Academy; Viktor Orbán would choose the director
This directorship would have the right and the power to decide the faith of the research centres’ future and rearrangement
To oblige the Academy to make its buildings, equipment, and full infrastructure available for the government
Establishing a brand-new council lead by László Palkovics and governmental politicians with involving only one representative from the Academy

The mentioned plans and points above inure in August

Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest — *Photo: MTI / Tibor Illyés*

Putting the Hungarian Academy of Sciences under state oversight unacceptable

The way and method in which the state wants to place the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) under its purview are unacceptable, Szabolcs Szabó, an MP of opposition green LMP, said at a press conference on Saturday.

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