János Lázár, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office and Corina Cretu, European Commissioner for Regional Policy agreed on the out-of-court settlement of the so-called asphalt case on Thursday in Budapest.
The Minister informed the press of this development at the 45th Governmentinfo press conference. Mr Lázár reiterated at his press conference that this is the case where companies also active in asphalt mixing may have engaged in cartel activity, and on this account the European Commission instituted proceedings against Hungary.
He reported: he agreed with Corina Cretu that the European Commission and the Hungarian Government will settle the issue directly.
„We shall make an adjustment which cannot result in a net loss for Hungary”, he said, adding: if the parties succeed in reaching an agreement, the Hungarian budget may have an excess allocation of HUF 500 billion as the disbursement of EU funds to the Hungarian central budget in connection with road construction projects is under suspension at present.
The head of the Prime Minister’s Office also said that Corina Cretu congratulated the Hungarian Government on the disbursement of EU funds during the cycle between 2007-2013.
Regarding the regularity of the disbursement of EU funds, the Minister remarked that Hungary is within the 2 per cent margin of error in every EU operational programme.
He further informed the press that the Government will discuss the case of the 771 state projects which are designed to promote the development of state infrastructure and the enhancement of its operation on Monday. These projects amount to HUF 3,500 billion from the total EU allocation. „Things are not looking up for my fellow-ministers, and the Prime Minister will be compelled to resort to the means of having a thorough chat with them on Monday”, he said.
(MTI)
