Commission President says all Hungarian students can rejoin Erasmus+ community next academic year

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has said that the new Hungarian Prime Minister, Péter Magyar, "made great progress on the protection of fundamental rights in Hungary, notably on academic freedom", therefore unlocking frozen funds from the EU European Union and securing the return of all Hungarian students to Erasmus+ programme from the next academic year.

On 29/05/2026, during a meeting between von der Leyen and Magyar, the President of the Commission said that the new government was "moving forward" to deliver on its promises including to fight corruption and restore the rule of law.

As she observed notable progress already on corruption and investments, she announced that the EU was unlocking €10 billion of frozen EU funds for Hungary, as well as the conditionality-related Cohesion funds worth €4.2bn.

On fundamental rights, von der Leyen said Hungary was "gradually phasing out the Public Interest Trusts and passing legislation to address concerns about conflict of interest and integrity rules". She said that this was "a big step" that was "long-awaited", allowing the EU to unfreeze another €2.2bn from the Cohesion funds for Hungary.

These Public Interest Trusts were used by Orban's government in 2019 to transform several Hungarian universities into publicly funded private universities. The EU issued a warning regarding potential "conflicts of interest" and the "lack of transparency regarding the management of funds by these foundations", as board members were appointed by the government. After no measures were taken to address these concerns, the EU imposed sanctions in 2022, including the suspension of Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe-funded projects with these institutions.

The Commission's President concluded by welcoming all Hungarian students back into the Erasmus+ programme "as early as the next academic year", highlighting that it was "one of the great trademarks of the European Union".