Hungary: Outcry over probe into philosophers

„The French newspaper Liberation and the Danish newspaper Politiken have both suggested that anti-Semitic sentiments lie behind the accusations. A declaration from the German Society of Philosophy, published by Julian Nida-Rümelin and Jürgen Habermas in Süddeutsche Zeitung on 25 January, suggests that public criticism of the new Hungarian media law is one of the reasons for the attacks on, and investigation of, the philosophers. »[We] are concerned about the political and professional destinies of our Hungarian colleagues. At the centre of the conflict are Agnes Heller, Mihály Vajda and Sándor Radnóti, who publicly has criticised the Prime Minister of Hungary, Orbán, because of the adoption of questionable laws concerning the media«, the declaration says.

But HUS president Pálinkás, in a further letter replying to HUS members, said he knew of at least one case where a research director who had been granted US$350,000 for a specific research project sub-contracted the research to his own private company and sub-contracted research to the company of his deputy, allegedly in contravention of »several laws in Hungary«. Gyorgy Gereby, one of the accused philosophers, said that while subcontracting research to micro-companies might seem irregular in other countries, in Hungary it was normal practice.”