Science can only flourish, researchers can only pursue a performance-oriented career and take responsibility for their performance if politics respects the autonomy of science and scientists, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Public Administration and Justice Tibor Navracsics stressed on Monday, at the 183rd General Meeting of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) where the 2012 Academy Prize was awarded to eleven outstanding researchers and scientists.

He emphasised that the Hungarian Government supports all the decisions which the Academy has adopted in connection with changes in its own operation. As a result, the institutional framework of science in Hungary has also been renewed and the academic community is able to preserve its position as a major power in the world, he said.

Tibor Navracsics underlined, performance and responsibility are two values which represent a bridge between politics and science and render communication between the two areas necessary. In a democratic society, there is a need for mutual cooperation between science and politics, the Deputy Prime Minister said.

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is not only a performance-oriented community but is also an institutional framework which must, from time to time, adjust its own operating principles to the challenges of the era, the Minister stressed. By promoting research, maintaining an active public life in the field of science and encouraging academic dialogue, science may serve the best interests of the community at large, the nation and the common good of the people as scientific research forms part of the good of the nation, Tibor Navracsics pointed out.

(kormany.hu)