Varjú had cited Nándor Csepreghy, an economy ministry deputy state secretary, who said on Wednesday that a total of 7,925 billion forints of the 8,200 billion forints EU funding available in the 2007-2013 development period had been paid out, and utilisation is expected to reach 100% this autumn.

Varjú insisted that the 96% of funds which Csepreghy said had already been tapped included funding suspended by the EU which now has to be paid by Hungarian taxpayers. He called on Csepreghy and the minister who heads the government office, János Lázár, to report the amount of EU funding at risk due to an ongoing audit.

Fidesz responded by accusing Gyurcsány and DK of “repeatedly reporting against Hungary in Brussels” in order to have EU development funding to Hungarians discontinued.

Hungary will have fully utilised available EU funding in the 2007-2013 development period and the target is to be the first member country in the current period to call down 100% of the funding, Fidesz said.

Hungary has received the third largest allocation for development funding among EU members in this period, it added.

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