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Petras Vaitiekūnas and Prime Minister of Hungary Ferenc Gyurcsany met with professors and students at the European Humanities University.

The Prime Minister of Hungary announced about the decision of Hungary to provide financial support worth €50, 000 to the European Humanities University (EHU) for the academic year 2007-2008. Hungary intends to continue providing the financial support to university for the next academic year too.

“The support from the governments of European countries sends a strong signal to the people of Belarus, which should not allow them to forget that Belarus is in Europe and that Belarus is a friend of Europe. By providing this support to the EHU, the governments of European countries, first of all, promote common European principles and values. Today I am especially pleased to welcome another partner of the European Humanities University, which is the Government of the Republic of Hungary,” said Minister P.Vaitiekūnas.

The government of Hungary is the first of the Visegrád group and the first Central European country, which provides financial support to the EHU. By taking this step Hungary seeks to promote the processes of democratisation in Belarus and display solidarity with Lithuanian foreign policy in the neighbour country.

In 1992 EHU was founded in Belarus and it was a private institution of higher education. The government of Belarus revoked its license for academic activity on 27 July, 2004. Thanks to the efforts of the European Commission, the governments of Europe and the USA, organisations and private sponsors, EHU resumed its activities in Vilnius on 5 June, 2005. In 2006 EHU was granted the official status of a Lithuanian university. Today up to 1,500 students from Belarus are studying at EHU.

“I am proud that a few years ago the unique European Humanities University Project was reopened in Vilnius,” said Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs during his meeting with professors and students of the university.