Orbán cabinet plan to reorganise Academy of Sciences triggers opposition protest

Government plans to reorganise the structure and funding of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) have triggered protests from opposition parties on Tuesday.

The leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) said the government has made decisions that ignore the interests of the Academy and the staff of MTA institutes, DK deputy group leader Gergely Arató told a press conference. As a consequence of the planned measures, researchers and scientists are expected to leave Hungary by the thousands, he added.

The government is “angry with” MTA and Hungarian scientists obviously for political reasons, he said.

Group spokesman Zsolt Gréczy said that Hungarian scientists and their workshops could be destroyed by cuts in MTA funds. He said he would ask the head of parliament’s budget committee to revisit issues concerning the Hungarian Academy of Sciences budget.

Innovation and Technology Minister László Palkovics arbitrarily wants to overwrite the MTA budget figures, which could potentially be a violation of the law, he said.

The conservative Jobbik party told another press conference that the insecurity created by the government would cause severe and long-term damage to Hungarian scientific life.