Government reaches settlement with EC on road tender dispute

Budapest (MTI) – On October 24 Hungary received 176 billion forints (EUR 570m) of funding from the European Union that had been held back because of a dispute over road construction tenders, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday.

As a result, the “asphalt case” has been resolved, the statement by state secretary Nándor Csepreghy said, adding that the dispute has not resulted in the loss of EU funding for Hungary.

In June Janos Lazar, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said the European Commission has decided on a 48 billion forint penalty for Hungary related to the tenders. The amount was agreed on after “long, long discussions and negotiations”, he added.

Hungary had to pay the penalty for the practice of requiring bidders in road construction tenders to have asphalt units in close proximity to projects.

Photo: MTI