Compared to 2012, the amount of EU funds disbursed has doubled: in 2014 HUF 1 840 billion was disbursed. For this year, the Government is working with a figure of HUF 2 263 billion, so that Hungary will not waste a single forint of the EU funds available in the budgetary cycle ending this year.
At a conference this morning organized by Világgazdaság and entitled “Before closing, after opening”, Deputy State Secretary for Development Policy Communication Nándor Csepreghy said that the main objective for the coming programming period is to lay the foundations of Hungary’s competitiveness.
Mr. Csepreghy explained that while in 2012 Hungary disbursed only HUF 1 000 billion of available EU funds, in 2013 the payments amounted to HUF 1 700 billion and in 2014 they reached HUF 1 840 billion. The goal for this year is to disburse HUF 2 263 billion, which is the amount for which Hungary will need to receive invoices in order to ensure not losing any money from the funds available for the 2007–2014 budgetary cycle.
The Deputy State Secretary said that “We have already drawn 80% of the total funds (HUF 8 700 billion) available for the previous cycle; the main goal for this year, however, is to make sure that we do not lose any funds. This of course must not divert our attention from the new calls for proposals to be announced for the next five years’ operational programmes, which are mostly based on national economic considerations which are different from those of the previous cycle. The new focus for utilisation of EU funds will be on economic development – more precisely, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in Hungary.”
In his presentation Mr. Csepreghy explained that in recent years Hungary has spent HUF 1 565 billion on environmental development, HUF 3 260 billion on transportation development, HUF 2 000 billion on state-owned companies and HUF 4 500 billion on the state and local government sector. Additionally, 43 000 enterprises have received EU funding of HUF 1 620 billion, which nevertheless represents only one third of the available funds.
The Deputy State Secretary said that the aim for the next five years is to significantly increase the number of SMEs making use of EU funds and to make the SME sector the main user of EU funds, with a share of approximately 60% of a total of HUF 12 000 billion.
The Deputy State Secretary added that in order to ensure that as many enterprises as possible make use of funds in the coming years, the Government will significantly decrease the administrative burden on applicants; the public procurement regulatory system, the institutional system and procedures will also become simpler, and furthermore applications will only be submitted electronically in the future. As an example of an absurd anomaly in the current system, Mr. Csepreghy pointed that, in certain cases, in order for applicants to receive pre-financing payments, they have to provide collateral of a value greater than that of the pre-financing payments. This practice excludes young companies, which have high growth potential but low capitalisation.
“The funds of HUF 12 000 billion for the next five years represent probably the most important development opportunity for Hungary since the fall of communism. The main aim for the use of this amount is to reinforce Hungary’s competitiveness in Europe, and the success of this will mostly depend on whether Hungarian SMEs can adjust to rapidly and continuously changing market conditions. It is my firm belief that innovation will be of key importance in the future,” Mr. Csepreghy concluded.