Brussels, 06/04/2016 (Agence Europe) -The suspension of €121 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) recently decided upon by the European Commission will be one of the more sensitive dossiers to be discussed by the Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, during her trip to Hungary on 7 and 8 April.
The Commissioner will be taking stock of this issue on the first day of her trip, with the Minister for the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Janos Lazar, a source told EUROPE. She will also meet the Hungarian Secretary of State, Balazs Rakossy, who is responsible for the use of EU funds.
On 29 September last year, the Commission interrupted the payment of €121 million earmarked for Hungary in the framework of the operational programme for social infrastructure, due to problems identified in the management and control of the funds. Noting that no corrective action has been taken since then, it decided on 23 March to suspend the payments.
This is not the first time Hungary has been handed down similar sanctions. In April 2015, the Commission announced the suspension of the payment of various priorities of the operational programme “economic development in Hungary”, representing a value of €451 million, from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). At the time, it criticised the “significant systemic weaknesses” observed in the project selection system (EUROPE 11296).
At the moment, nine Hungarian ERDF programmes are suspended, according to one source. For the period 2007-2013, some €840 million under the cohesion programmes has been suspended. In rare cases, the member state in question carries out financial corrections and returns some of the funding allocated to it. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)