Wednesday's session of the National Economic and Social Council focused on the planning and utilisation of European Union funds made available for Hungary in 2014-2020.

Minister of State for Parliament and Economic Strategy Zoltán Cséfalvay emphasised that in the period 2014-2020 development funds totalling some 7300 billion forints are expected in Hungary from EU cohesion and structural funds.

The Minister of State underlined that Hungary was among the first member states to have received a response from the European Commission and Directorate Generals over the first draft of the Partnership Agreement on the planning of funds, and thus a key phase of negotiations has been completed. Concurrently, as of the middle of July the first draft of the Agreement was posted on the website of the Office for National Economic Planning, with relation to which comments and recommendations are welcome, Zoltán Cséfalvay said.

The Minister of State said that regulations enabling the formal submission of the Partnership Agreement this year are anticipated to be ready in November, and until then the social consultations will be held.

As Zoltán Cséfalvay stressed, Hungary’s principal objective is to spend funds expected in 2014-2020 on facilitating sustainable production which generates high added value, boosting employment and fuelling economic growth, therefore in the new planning period starting next year 60 percent of resources are projected to be devoted to economic development. He explained that some new instruments will also be utilised: certain financial tools will be given a more prominent role, which means that instead of providing only non-refundable grants, larger emphasis will be placed on refundable or partially refundable loans (such as preferential credits or guarantees). These instruments will be used mainly in the field of economic development and energy efficiency as well as for research, development and innovation, the Minister of State said.

The bulk of funding – expected to total some 1200 billion forints, twice the current level – will be earmarked for stimulating employment between 2014 and 2020. The Government intends to allocate HUF 1100bn for improving the competitiveness of SMEs, Zoltán Cséfalvay added.

He also said that the Partnership Agreement for the period 2014-2020 plans to apply funds in accordance with 11 thematic objectives within the framework of 9 operative programmes instead of the current 16. He stressed that the objectives of the EU 2020 Strategy, and within that Hungary’s commitments and country-specific recommendations, had also to be taken into consideration during formulation of the Partnership Agreement.

(Ministry for National Economy)