The European Commission is planning to cut cohesion funding for Hungary by a quarter from 2021, totalling 17.9 billion euros, it has been revealed.
Marc Lemaitre, EC director for regional and urban development policy, broke the news to a roundtable in Budapest on Tuesday, but said the figures have not yet been finalized.
At the event, organized by the German-Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Lemaitre said that the EU would focus on innovation, support for SME’s, digital technology development, sustainable industrial modernization, the fight against climate change, reducing carbon-dioxide emissions and building a socially more sensitive Europe in the 2021-2027 budgeting period.
According to MTI, Lemaitre argued that the EU’s earlier budgeting priorities could not be maintained after Brexit, and also because member states have developed differently. He added that while countries in central and eastern Europe made progress, states in the south are facing economic problems.
He said that the European Commission seeks to simplify access to EU funds and increase flexibility in awarding funds and in subsequent reporting.
Lemaitre added that the EU would spend between 6-7 billion euros on handling issues around migration in the next cycle, adding that the grand total would include assistance for regions outside the community as well as support for legal entrants.