Hungary to receive EUR 3.1 billion from EU structural and cohesion funds

The first round of negotiations between Hungary and the European Commission on future Structural Funds assistance was launched on Wednesday in Budapest. Negotiations will be dedicated to the Community Support Framework (CSF) and related Operational Programs (OP) for the period 2004-2006. Hungary is the second largest recipient amongst the new Member States, after Poland, of Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund support. On the basis of the decisions of the Copenhagen European Council last December, about EUR 2 billion will be allocated to Hungary under the EU Structural Funds and some EUR 1.12 billion under the Cohesion Fund. In a letter addressed to Hungary's EU affairs minister Endre Juhasz, Michel Barnier, commissioner responsible for regional policy, set out the Commission's position on how Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund should be used in Hungary. At the end of March 2003, Hungary submitted to the Commission its National Development Plan and sent in five draft Operational Programs at the beginning of May 2003. Objective 1 of the Structural Funds is devoted to promoting the development and structural adjustment of regions whose development is lagging behind. The CSF will be implemented through five Operational Programs, concentrating on business infrastructure and business aid, human resources development, transport and environmental infrastructure, agriculture and rural development, and regional development. In addition, the Cohesion Fund will co-finance major transport and environmental infrastructure projects. Hungary has seven regions, all of them eligible under Objective 1 in the period 2004-06. The entire territory of the country is also eligible for support from the Cohesion Fund.