EU funds: Has Hungary managed to convince the European Parliament?
Tibor Navracsics has said his meeting on Wednesday with the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control delegation included discussions which may result in support for Hungary’s access to European Union funds.
The minister of regional development told journalists that the talks achieved a foothold in mutual understanding, and he was “confident” members of the committee had been convinced on several issues by the Hungarian side’s objective arguments.
The delegation was briefed on the ways in which Hungary intends to use EU funds, he said, adding that he sensed, however, that the delegation had not read background materials sent to them in advance. Also, “the political prejudices of many representatives” were evident and “factual mistakes” were made when questions were put to him.
As an example, Navracsics said the government was accused in a blanket way of political bias when it came to the distribution of EU funds, and this is something the Hungarian side strove to refute.
Answering a question, he said it appeared that on several issues at least, the committee’s opinion formed thus far had been nuanced.
“I may risk saying that in some areas we have managed to convince them with data and facts,” the minister said. “So, I trust that we managed to gain a supporter in the longer term when it comes to accessing European Union funds.”
Meanwhile, Navracsics said that from the questions formulated by the delegation’s members it could be deduced that the mayor of Budapest, who recently had his own meeting the committee, considered the government was “treating him unfairly”.
The minister said he had told the delegation that the government’s dealings with the municipality were not a matter of party politics. Rather, he explained to them, affluent local councils must take their fair share of the burden during straitened times to offset lower contributions by struggling localities. This, he added, not only applied to Budapest but richer councils such as Debrecen, Győr, Székesfehérvár and Veszprém.
Navracsics said the aim here was to boost financial support for regions which barely reach half of the EU average level of development.
On the subject of public procurement, the Hungarian side told the delegation that the government has pledged to reduce the proportion of single-bid procedures to 15 percent, the EU average. He said significant progress was being made in this area.
Navracsis said he was “moderately optimistic” regarding the delegation’s visit, though their opinion overall was “unlikely to be very high”. Hopefully, the government’s data would be accepted in areas that could objectively verified or refuted, he added.
Asked about discord between the EU and the government over the Erasmus student programme, Navracsics said the matter was not discussed with the delegation.
The minister noted that he discussed Erasmus issues in Brussels on Tuesday, and he promised to send the government’s negotiating position to the European Commission next week.
Though the government wants negotiations to go swiftly on this topic too, the situation was hindered by the fact that the commissioner dealing with this issue from Bulgaria was new and would have to be contacted.
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7 Comments
Hard data and facts – nothing quite like it. Our Politicians are generally pretty thin on those.
As with transparency, which they find a challenge (parliamentary scrutiny, anyone? Secrecy a la https://www.reuters.com/article/hungary-china-railway-law-idUSL8N2D14V2 ?)
Hungary also signed a 15 year energy supply agreement with Russia in fall 2019 and the terms of the agreement are a state secret. Hungarians are kept in the dark about what their government is doing and the Fidesz government doesn’t even need to present anything in parliament anymore where examination and debate can take place because they have been ruling by decree for more than two years. This makes corruption that much easier when there is no transparency. You really have to wonder what kind of kickback schemes into Fidesz pockets are going on with these secret contracts.
“Rotten to the Core” – from the top of Fidesz its leader and current Prime Minister of Hungary – Victor Orban.
Orban – look at the cataclysmic MESS – he HAS taken us to – as a country.
Transparency – laughable when referring this to Orban and his Government.
TRIMMED and not of FACT lacking TRUTH – “touched up” to be exposed as a situation, that is just TOTALLY veiled in Candour.
Will the European Union keep Hungary waiting and waiting and waiting ???
Possible they RIGHTFULLY will as they operate under DEMOCRACY, where-by Orban – he is DISMISSIVE of Democracy, preferring – blatantly in FACT, function, operate and rule/govern Hungary under a DICTATORSHIP.
@Larry – to echo our Politicians’ mantra re the release of EU funds: “it’s our money”! Not going to comment on this, here,
HOWEVER – the contracts that are concluded by the state, representations made, financing arrangements, etc. are most definitely “our money” – the Hungarian people’s hard earned money. Not our Politicians. So we are entitled to transparency (let’s wait for @mariavontheresa on this – curious as to his point of view)!
The EU is delighted Hungary has agreed to join JET Jeffery Epstein Trust for the advancement for preteen sexual development. Working with the teachers Union it will work to help sever the bond between parents and their children. JET is a nonprofit organization funded by its . members. The EU has agreeed to pay for transition surgery usually paid for by the state as part of Hungarys money aloted then by the EU
@TM – teaching is to a great degree vocational. As is healthcare. It is not about getting rich – however you should at least be able to earn a living wage, get the right tools to do the job and a degree of recognition. That’s where unions come in.
Re transition surgery – please do come back with some hard data – how many people, percentages, age groups. I believe you’ll find we’re all getting very excited about a very small percentage of the population. I’d like to invoke “materiality” – however there seems to be a lot to be gained from polarization and demonization of a few people who live lives different from ours?
The money Hungary would have received was spent in support of Ukraine. Hungary should give up any hope of getting a cent. The EU will send people with preconceived ideas, trying to force obedience. Hungary should work on being independent of the EU and with the help of Mr. Sijjarto, forge other trading partners.