Hungary refuses to back EU resolution on European Education Area over continuing Erasmus exclusion

The Hungarian government has refused to support conclusions on the next phase of developing the European Education Area because it is excluded from the Erasmus+ programme.

At the Council of EU education ministers meeting in Brussels on 27/11/2025, Balázs Hankó, Hungary's minister for culture and education, told colleagues that his government could not support a resolution on the EEA because his country was still excluded from the Erasmus programme.

"As long as the European Commission doesn't propose to lift sanctions [on Hungary], Hungary will not support the resolution on the framework of the EEA," he said.

Hankó said that the Commission had been "unjustly excluding Hungarian students and teachers" from Erasmus "based on political motivations" and was "infringing the fundamental rights of 240,000 students and teachers".

In December 2022, the EU Council suspended new Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe funding for 34 Hungarian educational and cultural institutions. The 21 universities affected operate under a 2019 government model where boards, appointed by the government, control…