PM’s Office To Respond This Week To Norway On Grants Suspension

(MTI) – Janos Lazar, head of the Prime Minister’s Office, will respond this week to a letter by Norway announcing the suspension of further disbursements of funds to Hungary under the EEA and Norway Grants scheme, deputy state secretary for development policy communication Nandor Csepreghy said on Thursday.

The Norwegian Foreign Ministry said last Friday that the reason for the decision was that the Hungarian government had “moved the implementation and monitoring of the Grants scheme out of the central government administration. This is in breach of the agreements that have been entered into.”

Csepreghy told MTI that after Lazar’s response is sent to Norway, personal meetings are planned to be held.

Hungary’s position remains unchanged on the matter, namely it would like Norway to extend the suspension over the three funds disbursing monies allocated to civil organisations and to renegotiate the entire programme structure of the scheme, he said.

The most important aim in connection with the Norway Grants scheme is to ensure that only state bodies should fulfil tasks connected with the management of funding, he added.

Csepreghy said the Norwegian funding for NGOs is currently transferred through the Okotars Foundation which appears to be an NGO but in reality is a satellite organisation of the small opposition LMP.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters