This is to provide some
background information about the plans for closing the Swedish research
institutes in Athens, Istanbul and Rome.
A few weeks ago, the Swedish
people elected its new government. The new minister of Higher Education and
Research is called Helene Hellmark Knutsson.
On Wednesday, 22.10.2014 the
budget proposal for the next year was published. In the section on research it
was briefly announced that the department would save 10 million Swedish kronor
in 2016 and another 12 in 2017, consisting in the withdrawal of support for the
three Swedish Institutes. The chairperson of the board of the Institutes was
informed by telephone the day before the budget proposal was launched. This
development, however, does not take take place without resistance from wide
parts of the Swedish and the international society. It has been criticized that
there was neither an adequate discussion, nor a proper analysis of the
consequences.
Immediately, a petition
was started; after only 24 hours the number of signatures was already over
3.000. The present number of 12.800 is constituted by subscribers from many
different countries. All the major Swedish newspapers, including those not
usually reporting on humanities and culture, showed interest in the subject.
Carl Bildt, the former minister of foreign affairs in the government which just
resigned, has signed the list and written an article in one of the largest
Swedish newspapers. The minister in question was interviewed in a program where
Ida Östenberg, who is an Ancient Historian and one of the most important
supporters of the protest, was also interviewed. Consequently, the minister was
put under pressure to consider re-evaluating the decision.
It is now possible or even
likely that the government is going to withdraw the suggestion: The minister
claims that “this was just a proposal, not a decision”.
The
petition is still available online:
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