BUDAPEST, Hungary — A few thousand academics and students held a protest march against a plan by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government to seize control of the research network of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Critics say the government plan threatens academic freedom and autonomous scientific research in Hungary, a “de facto nationalization of the academy’s property,” which would put scientific research under close government scrutiny.
The government, which held several rounds of unsuccessful talks with the academy, said its wants to improve innovation in scientific research and have publicly funded research projects that create “direct economic profit.”