The 2021-2027 period has taken a surprising turn in terms of EU funding for Hungary. Although the money is still blocked due to disputes, the country is currently at the top of the EU ranking in terms of advance payments, Index reports.
The European Commission’s development policy database, updated daily, shows that Hungary is at the top of the list of payments for the 2021-2027 EU funding period. This is possible despite the fact that the long-awaited Brussels deal between the Hungarian government and the EU institutions has not yet been reached, with the co-financing of EU development projects by the European Commission taking place retrospectively.
Not only in Hungary, but also in the other 26 member states, it is common practice for countries to invite, evaluate and pay out tenders, or more precisely to advance the investments of the winning developer, at the risk and expense of their own central budgets.
Hungary has overtaken even those member states whose EU development plans are not blocked by Brussels. The reason is that most of their projects are not yet at the stage where they can send out performance-based invoices to Brussels for reimbursement by the Commission.
According to the statistics, Hungary has EUR 21.73 billion at its disposal for the 2021-2027 period from Brussels, and 3 percent of this, EUR 606.1 million, has already been paid out to businesses and institutions by the Hungarian government.
The latest figures also show that of the EUR 606.1 million, EUR 540.6 million is in the form of advances and EUR 65.5 million in the form of periodic payments.
This was possible because there is a Hungarian operational program called VOP Plusz that is not subject to the blocking.
Fact
The VOP Plusz covers the operation of the implementation institutional system. The aim of this program is to help the effective and efficient use of cohesion funds by providing both experts with up-to-date knowledge and infrastructure conditions.
However, this strong start by Hungary could be overshadowed if European countries that have not had their funds blocked by Brussels start to receive funds at a rapid pace. This means that Hungary could go from being first to last, but much depends on the time it takes to settle differences with the EU institutions. Hungary’s interests are represented by Tibor Navracsics, Minister for Regional Development, and János Bóka, who joined the government as Minister for EU Affairs.
Via index.hu, Featured image: Pixabay
