While Hungarian students are still unable to participate in Erasmus programs for political reasons, Ursula von der Leyen has now announced that EU funds will be used for students from North Africa and the Middle East to freely do so, Nova24 reports.
According to the recent announcement by the head of the EC, “some North African and Middle Eastern countries, which are not part of Europe geographically, culturally or ethnically, would thus gain the status of ‘associated countries,’ which would mean full inclusion in Erasmus+.”
Nova24 highlights that this would put them on equal footing with non-EU European countries, such as Serbia and Norway.
This would also mean that more students from these countries would be travelling to the EU, receiving scholarships from EU taxpayer money, and even allowing African and Middle Eastern universities to apply for funding for their own projects.
Meanwhile, Hungarians are barred from Erasmus+ due to ongoing rule-of-law sanctions from the European Commission.
Students from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and other countries have already been coming to the EU to study, but in a far more limited capacity. This new development would aggressively expand the opportunities open to them and lengthen their stays.
Announced as part of the Pact for the Mediterranean, announced last month in an effort to “boost jobs, energy and security in the Mediterranean,” the EU is expected to allocate as much as €42 billion to the project.
The EU is struggling with a lackluster economy, societies torn apart by migration, and a neighboring war, so the funds could easily be used elsewhere — even to help integrate the many migrants it has accepted in the last decade and make sure they are employed.
While the EU continues to freeze billions in funding for Hungary, it continuously awards non-EU member states, including authoritarian Ukraine, with tens of billions. This latest infusion of money and rights for non-EU foreigners looking to study in the EU is expected to sow further division among member states, especially Hungary.
There are even greater concerns that there is little oversight as to the students coming in, i.e., whether they could pose any clear risk. French MEP Céline Imart (Republicans) has previously spoken in the European Parliament and exposed the EU’s hypocrisy after it was revealed that radical Muslims and even heavily sanctioned Russians can participate in the Erasmus and Horizon programs.
“The Erasmus+ program is turning into a kind of Brussels version of the USAID program that Trump abolished, and will apparently become an instrument for encouraging mass migration,” Nova24 concludes.
