{"id":45856,"date":"2025-09-11T16:25:54","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T14:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/?p=45856"},"modified":"2025-09-15T08:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T06:39:11","slug":"semmelweis-university-at-a-hearing-before-the-court-of-justice-of-the-european-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/2025\/09\/semmelweis-university-at-a-hearing-before-the-court-of-justice-of-the-european-union\/","title":{"rendered":"Semmelweis University at a hearing before the Court of Justice of the European Union"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Luxembourg-based General Court of the European Union (part of the Court of Justice of the European Union) held a hearing on Wednesday in the case of Hungarian universities that had changed their governance model and were affected by the freezing of EU funds. Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely, Rector of Semmelweis University, emphasized that the University had duly complied with all regulations during the implementation of the European Erasmus+ and Horizon programs. He stressed that it is therefore unacceptable for the European Union, due to its political dispute with the Hungarian Government, to exclude students and researchers from the Erasmus+ and Horizon programs, thereby depriving them of opportunities that could profoundly affect their futures.\u00a0<\/div>\n

Semmelweis University and the University of Debrecen filed separate lawsuits against the Council of the European Union last May over the freezing of the Erasmus+ and Horizon programs, while the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, \u00d3buda University, the University of Miskolc, and the University of Duna\u00fajv\u00e1ros jointly sued the Council as a consortium.<\/span>\u00a0The case began on Wednesday with oral hearings before the nine-member Grand Chamber of the General Court of the European Union. Before the Court, Rector Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely spoke for Semmelweis University and Rector Levente Kov\u00e1cs for \u00d3buda University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In December 2022, the European Commission (EC) prohibited Hungarian universities that had switched to the foundation-based governance model from receiving EU funds through the Erasmus+ education program and the Horizon research program. According to the EC, these institutions do not ensure either institutional autonomy or transparency.<\/p>\n

Before the Court, Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely stressed that Semmelweis University had complied with all relevant regulations in relation to the Erasmus+ and Horizon programs and had submitted all supporting documentation to both the European Commission and the Council of the European Union.<\/p>\n

\n

Neither the Council nor the Commission has bothered to notice, respond to, or even dispute those facts. In fact, they have diligently avoided facts and any discussion of facts. \u2013 Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The speech by Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely is available here.<\/a><\/p>\n

According to Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely, this was not a professional but a political decision, as the European Union, due to its political dispute with the Hungarian Government, is depriving students and researchers of opportunities that could profoundly affect their futures.<\/p>\n

\n

I have had to accept that the Commission of the European Union and the Hungarian Government have had a grumpy relationship for years. This is not the University\u2019s choice and not our dispute \u2013 especially not that of our university students from almost 130 countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After Wednesday\u2019s hearing, the case will move into the deliberation phase, and then the General Court of the European Union will announce its decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rector Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely addressed the court on behalf of Semmelweis University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102533,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17,286],"tags":[261],"class_list":["post-45856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-semmelweis-world","category-x-nyitolap","tag-press"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102533"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45856"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45886,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45856\/revisions\/45886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}