The country has two major tasks to complete this year in the area of the utilisation EU funds: we must complete the financial closing of the previous development cycle, and must take action to explore our new opportunities, János Lázár said at the consultation held with interest representations regarding EU funds.

The Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office stressed: all calls for proposals involving EU funds for the period between 2014-2020 will be published by 31 March 2017, the decision-making mechanisms have been made more transparent, and according to plans, the available funds will be contracted by 31 December 217.

He added: according to plans, EU funds worth minimum HUF 2,200 billion will be disbursed this year, but this sum may even reach HUF 2,700-2,800 billion.

Mr Lázár remarked in the context of the financial closing of the previous development cycle: there are quite a few outstanding disputes with the European Commission regarding this cycle, primarily issues concerning settlement.

He thanked the Chamber and the interest representations for the assistance provided with the absorption of EU funds, and reiterated that in 2013 the European Commission projected that Hungary would forfeit 30 per cent of the available funds.

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The Hungarian corporate community did a great deal to help the country preserve the funds placed at its disposal, and without Hungarian businesses Hungary could not have become the only country among its Central-European counterparts which managed to absorb 100 per cent of the funds and is able to render an account of their utilisation, the Minister stated.

Mr Lázár reiterated that it was based on the Chamber’s recommendation that the Government managed to convince the European Commission that 60 per cent of the funds should be allocated to the development of small and medium-sized businesses, in contrast to 14 per cent during the previous cycle.

He further informed the attendees of the consultation that the Government engaged the consulting firm KPMG to evaluate the conclusions of the period between 2007-2013, including the benefits of the available funds. The Minister mentioned as an example the fact that some HUF 3,800 billion was channelled during this period to agriculture in the form of land-based funding and rural development grants which eventually merely performed the function of income supplement, and failed to serve development purposes.

In the Minister’s words, the era when the Hungarian economy is only able to render a performance with cheap work force and low technology has come to an end.

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If there is no technological development, innovation and a technological change of paradigm, the Hungarian economy will be faced with major competitiveness difficulties beyond 2020, he pointed out.

The Hungarian economy is now operating in a model where the available EU funds can be supplemented with local financing opportunities within the framework of the EU regulatory system, Mr Lázár said. He took the view that there will be major debates during the years to come as to whether the national economies will have the opportunity to provide national grants and tax benefits from the local budgets.

He remarked: if the growth credit programme of the National Bank of Hungary had not been available after 2010, the Hungarian economy would have found itself at a fatal disadvantage.

László Parragh, President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the improvement of competitiveness is an absolute must in the entire sector of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and EU funds play a key role in this.

He reiterated that the Chamber emphatically spoke about the need for a pay rise programme already at last year’s business year opening.

The Chamber believes it is important that the efficiency and productivity of SMEs should improve in such a way in the next few years that they should be able to rise to the challenge posed by the pay rise scheme, he highlighted.

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The President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry remarked: they are observing with sadness the debates surrounding the Olympic Games as the organisation of the Games could become the engine of the economy beyond 2020. Many people evidently do not even consider this.

Businesses also find it important that the Paks II project should be fully implemented as this will be a development which will be able to directly emerge in the growth of the Hungarian economy, Mr Parragh stated.

The President of the Chamber reported that the Association of European Chambers recently held its annual board meeting in Budapest.

The attendees learned here that not all countries can boast a functional dialogue between business and politics, and likewise not all countries can boast that the input of the consultations held with businesses also emerges on a regulatory level, Mr Parragh said.

(MTI/kormany.hu)