[autom.vertaling] Hongarije in de rij van het laatste ogenblik met Brussel (en)
Shortly before finishing the accession talks, Hungary has run into a last minute row with Brussels over tax breaks to foreign businesses. The EU is pushing Hungary to convert the tax breaks into forms of aid allowed under EU rules. Although Hungary claims it is trying to do this, the Commission claims that little progress has been made.
Due to this disagreement, Hungary has not managed to close one of the very important negotiation chapters, the competition policy chapter. Hungary hopes, as do the other nine enlargement countries, to finish the accession talks before next month's EU summit in Copenhagen. Poland has also not managed to close the competition policy chapter, but Poland is said to have more technical problems, whereas Hungary has fundamental problems.
Peter Gottfried, head of EU integration at the Hungarian foreign ministry, assured the Financial Times that there was no fundamental difference of opinion between Hungary and EU. "We must try to find a compromise," added Mr Gottfried.
Hungary is now paying the price for the successful foreign direct investment since 1989. It granted tax breaks to foreign groups like Sony, General Electric and Volkswagen.