Strasbourg, 12/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Hungarian Secretary of State Janos Lazar and EU Regional Development Commissioner Johannes Hahn have settled the question of suspension of EU Structural Fund money for Hungary.
At what the Commissioner described as a “results-based and constructive” meeting in Brussels on 9 September, the two politicians agreed on financial corrections to a number of programmes where the Commission had identified problems with the tender procedures.
Lazar's confirmation of acceptance of the corrections mean that the €230 to €250 million of structural funds cash will not be lost and Hahn said that payment can be made “in a matter of days”, once corrective actions have been verified and assessed. He added that: “I'd like to reiterate and emphasise that, while I know that interruptions are a big issue in member states, particularly those which depend on structural funds - I would like to underline that there is nothing unusual in this practice. To put it in perspective: for 2013 so far, there have been around a hundred interruptions for Operational Programmes” across the member states.
The commissioner added: “I welcome the complete draft of the partnership agreement to plan the investments for 2014-20. We will work together to produce a final version but I have congratulated the minister as Hungary was one of the first member states to submit a 'mature' complete draft”.
EU structural funds account for more than 90 % of public investment in Hungary. (MD/transl.fl)