Hungary - Regional Policy

Short-term priorities:

Assessment (November 2003)

Please refer to the fact sheets on the adoption of the Community acquis.

Medium-term priorities:

• ongoing improvements to the budgetary procedures, financial instruments and control and monitoring mechanisms with a view to participating in the European Union's structural programmes after accession.

Assessment (October 1999)

Hungary has continued to consolidate its internal financial mechanisms at central level.

Assessment (November 2000)

No progress to report.

Assessment (November 2001)

Hungary has continued to adapt its legislative framework and has defined its institutional structure relating to the planning and implementation of aid provided by the Structural and Cohesion Funds. The Ministry for the Economy is still responsible for planning and programming. The Treasury should be the future paying authority. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for regulating and supervising public finances. Specific measures are under way to start an ex-ante evaluation of the national development plan with the help of the Phare programme. A computer surveillance pilot system has been set up and should be extended to the future managing authorities.

Assessment (October 2002)

Hungary has made further progress in preparing for the implementation of the structural policies. As regards territorial organisation, in January 2002 Hungary confirmed the provisional NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Statistical Units) classification designating the whole country as one single unit corresponding to NUTS level I, with seven regions corresponding to NUTS level II. Hungary has re-defined the responsibilities of various ministries which are going to be in charge of programming and managing the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund. Directly attached to the Prime Minister's office, the National Development Office will be in charge of co-ordinating the preparation of the National Development Plan and act as the managing authority for the future Objective 1 Community Support Framework (CSF) and for the Cohesion Fund. The ministries responsible for managing the future operational programmes (OPs) have been formally designated. The programming process started in January 2001 but has suffered a considerable delay, thus the first part of the national development plan and its ex ante evaluation are still under preparation. A unit responsible for partnership, information and communication has been established within the National Development Office demonstrating the willingness of the authorities to bring together the socio-economic partners for implementing the cohesion policy. With regard to monitoring and evaluation, the National Development Office has recently set up a unit comprising seven experts. The software MEMOR, developed for collecting data on pre-accession instruments, includes a "Structural Funds" module which will be tested in 2002. Concerning financial management and control, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for elaborating management and control systems as well as on-the-spot checks. Furthermore, the ministries responsible for managing the Structural Funds have established Internal Audit Units. Although there is already a system of multi-annual planning of budgetary expenditure in Hungary including provisions for transfers between budget appropriations, the government is committed to further amending the Act on Public Finance to ensure the increased flexibility of procedures. In relation to statistical information, the compilation of regional data has continued. On the other hand, there has been no development regarding the legislative framework.

Hungary has provisionally closed negotiations on the Regional Policy chapter without requesting any transitional arrangements. In order to complete its preparation for membership, Hungary's efforts now need to focus on finalising the programming documents and strengthening the administrative capacity of the ministries and organisations concerned. New initiatives to ensure effective inter-ministerial co-ordination are also welcome. Significant progress is necessary in the technical preparation for future projects eligible for Community support. The compliance of monitoring and evaluation systems with the requirements of the Acquis Communautaire demands major developments.

Assessment (November 2003)

Please refer to the fact sheets on the adoption of the Community acquis.

Following the signing of the Accession Treaty on 16 April 2003, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004.

REFERENCES

Decision 99/850/EC of 06.12.1999Official Journal L 335, 28.12.1999

Commission opinion COM(97) 2001 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission report COM(98) 700 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission report COM(1999) 505 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission report COM(2000) 705 finalNot published in the Official Journal

Commission report COM(2001) 700 final - SEC(2001) 1748Not published in the Official Journal

Commission report COM(2002) 700 final - SEC(2002)1404Not published in the Official Journal

Commission Report COM(2003) 675 final - SEC(2003) 1205Not published in the Official Journal

Treaty of Accession to the European Union [Official Journal L 236, 23.09.2003]

Last updated: 19.11.2004