The Hungarian government can obtain almost two billion euros from frozen EU money with “some cleverness” – informed the People’s Word.
The article reminded me that the current EU budget of 2020-2027 has been frozen on several channels for Hungary. As a general rule, the government would have to meet strict conditions to resolve the money, but new opportunities for Hungary may have new opportunities for the half -time rewriting of the budget cycle.
To move the money
According to the article, some of the cohesion policy is the area blocked for so -called horizontal qualifying conditions, such as concerns about violating the fundamental rights charter. This includes concerns about the child protection law or freedom of science. The portal added that there are so -called thematic conditions, for example, in connection with different policies, the government can only get EU money if you put predetermined national plans on the table.
At the same time, flexibility is also an important element in cohesion policy, and although the main programs and priorities must be planned by the European Commission, the national governments have some room for maneuver within some programs.
Photo: Viktor Orbán / Facebook
The Népszava reminded that the Hungarian government took the opportunity this spring, when the $ 157 million (about $ 63 billion at the current exchange rate) was reallocated to those that could already apply for EU money. Piotr Serafin, the European Commissioner for Budget, previously admitted to the European Parliament’s commission that the Brussels body had no decision here, and the Hungarian government had the right to do so.
At the beginning of March, the Hungarian government made another request to the committee, applying for a redeployment of EUR 605 million (HUF 242 billion) from frozen money, but the committee must be approved by the committee. It would be four months to decide the application, but instead of decision, the committee asked the government new questions.
Gate
The portal emphasized that the loophole may mean that the Commission wants Member States to spend more on certain strategic purposes, such as digital technological development and biotechnology. The Népszava has learned that this application would also affect four programs of regional development, including economic development and innovation (ginop plus) and human resource development (EFOP plus).
It was emphasized that, due to the mid -term review of the cohesion policy, all Member States have the opportunity to reprogram, but the Hungarian government’s room for maneuver may be expanded by the rewriting of certain rules to spend the remaining money until the end of 2027.
If the reallocation rule remains, a Member State estimates that the Hungarian government would have the opportunity to reduce more than EUR 1.2 billion (HUF 480 billion) within the limits. This is not a negligible amount at all.
