In the evaluation of the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, after trailing at the back, Hungary has broken away from the pack and is now a leader in the management of EU funds, both as regards the publication of calls for proposals and the conclusion of contracts, and the disbursement of funds.
János Lázár described Hungary as a winner of the EU development cycle between 2014-2020 in an interview given to the programme European Time of Kossuth Rádió which was broadcast on Sunday morning. He said: according to the Government’s plans, all calls for proposals will be published by 31 March, and they wish to allocate some HUF 2,200-2,700 billion out of the HUF 9 thousand billion available for calls for proposals for development purposes. At the same time, the totality of the funds would be spent by 31 March 2018.
In justification of this timetable, the Minister said that the country’s competitiveness will have to be improved from this sum as it will be decided during these next few years whether the Hungarian economy will be able to stand on its own two feet: whether – if substantially less funding is made available by Brussels beyond 2020 – “we shall be able to (…) operate an economy which may be the engine of the country’s development”, rather than one that is reliant on external resources, he explained.
On the other hand, “the funds must be spent”, he stressed. In this context, he reiterated: during the previous cycle between 2007-2013, Hungary was in serious trouble as it was at the risk of losing more than one half of the allocation that it was entitled to. Finally, however, we managed to save the situation, and drew some 110 per cent of the entire sum from Brussels, he pointed out.
Mr Lázár said: the Government is making every effort to ensure that businesses have as easy access to the available funds as possible. One of the “spectacular means” of these efforts is the availability of advance payments, and Brussels, too, has accepted this solution proposed by Hungary. At the same time, in the interest of increased transparency, proposal drafting companies will be increasingly removed from the scene, he added.
“We were seen as black sheep in Brussels in 2013-2014 regarding the disbursement of funds as they believed that our institutional system was not working. Compared with this, we are now in the lead”: from among all EU Member States, Hungary is in the first four as regards the schedule of published calls for proposals, concluded contracts and disbursements, the Minister said. He highlighted that the methods that were used for changing the institutional system in Hungary are cited as good examples and models in other countries as well.
In the context of the EU funds available during the period between 2014-2020, he also indicated that the Government is using 60 per cent of the allocation for the development of the economy, and the remaining sum may be used for infrastructure development. The goal is, he said, that businesses should not use the grants for the compensation of their losses, but for genuine business development purposes. He mentioned as an example that HUF 3,800 billion was channelled to agriculture during the previous cycle, yet, there was no genuine improvement in the average produce rate and efficiency. In his view, agriculture should not be looked upon as some “nostalgia sector”, but as an area for the development of the economy.
In reference to a study of the central bank, the Minister also said that the EU funds are essential for a 4-5 per cent sustainable economic growth.