The reason? It’s a bit technical, so bear with me. In 2006, under the former, Socialist-led government, Hungarian decision-makers established a rule that wrongfully discriminated. It said that applicants for EU-funded construction projects must include engineers accredited at the relevant Hungarian professional authority to be eligible to apply. This eliminated from the competition firms that should otherwise have been eligible. During a routine review, they caught this mistake and found that several contracts between 2007 and 2013 were awarded based on this discriminatory application process.

When the current government took over in 2010, we were not aware of the problem that would eventually surface when the closing reviews were conducted, but we have to take responsibility for the mistakes of our predecessors. The offer extended on Monday by Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, to Hungary’s János Lázár, Minister of State heading the Prime Minister Office shows the Commission sees the true nature of the issue. They offered to apply the lightest sanction, and the Hungarian government accepted immediately. That is, 5 percent of the funds have to be paid back, but only if Hungary’s National Development Agency fails to contract that amount by the end of the year. If the agency succeeds, then in contracting the amount by the end of the year, then there would be no financial sanction.

The amount that had been suspended adds up to 2 billion euro, which will be transferred soon to Hungary, according to the Commissioner. During the Monday meeting, which wrapped up ahead of schedule, Commissioner Hahn took time to discuss Hungary’s draft plans for the distribution of funds for the upcoming seven years and noted its quality: “I have congratulated the minister because Hungary was one of the first member states to submit a really mature draft.”

The former government made a mistake in requiring chamber registration in the application phase of the process, but the European Commission appreciated the efforts the current government has made in this regard and the result is a lightweight sanction, a mutually beneficial agreement. This is the outcome, and it went according to clear EU protocols.

Take a look, however, at the international press coverage of the topic, and you’ll find the usual nonsense. You’ll find headlines about Hungary losing “maybe even 100% of its EU funding.” Some authors can’t resist the temptation to blame the every-wayward Orbán Government, despite the fact that it was a mistake of the former government. Some even suggested that the funds would be lost and that would provoke Hungary to leave the EU. Some fine examples of the kind of quality we read in fact-based reporting on Hungary!

Source: A Blog About Hungary

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