Distribution of EU subsidies at halftime

In July this year, the European Union saw the start of the second half of its current seven-year budgetary period (2007-2013). EU subsidies are distributed within the frameworks of cohesion policy, and apart from regional development programs, they could be applied for within several operational programs designed for specific purposes. Overall, Hungary has access to about HUF 4,000 billion (EUR 14.4 bn) left until 2013.

In the first four years, HUF 1,123.4 bn of the subsidiary framework was paid, which is 14.37% of the whole sum. This does not necessarily implies that the remaining sum could be used for entirely new projects, as quite substantial part of this amount has been awarded already – HUF 3,625 bn in total. In fact, since the change of government this spring, the sums awarded have been grown gradually.

However, in terms of economic development, EU subsidies do not appear to have been used properly considering that only 14.37 percent of the total subsidy framework. Still, the operational programs that received financial supports include the area of public transport where 64% of the subsidy framework was used, 29.8% was used in economic development and 31.15% in environment and energy programs. These figures suggest that the unused potential of EU funding is considerable and very far from revving up Hungary's economics.