Regionaal beleid 2007-2013: Commissie keurt 15 nieuwe programma's voor de Hongaarse gebieden goed (en)

The Commission decision on the 13 operational programmes (OP) funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the 2 programmes funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) opens the way for Hungarian regions to start implementing the new policy in the framework of the strategic plan agreed between Hungary and the Commission on the 7th of May 2007. Overall, Hungary will benefit from € 25 billion under the new programming period. The country is the 6thlargest beneficiary of EU Cohesion policy.

The European Commission has adopted today the last Hungarian programme for 2007-2013. Commissioners Hübner i and Spidla i expressed their satisfaction with the closing of the negotiations process with the Hungarian authorities.

"Hungary was one of the first countries to submit its programmes to the Commission in December 2006. I welcome this great effort. This is the first time Hungary has such development programmes "tailor-made" for each of its regions. They will contribute to significant reforms in the country". Danuta Hübner stated.

Vladimír Spidla congratulated Hungary on being among the few Member States with all operational programmes already adopted, saying" The Hungarian operational programmes co-financed by the ESF make a genuine commitment to promoting the quality and intensity of investments in human resources. This shows once again that more and better jobs lie at the heart of the European reform agenda. The strategy will boost employment, upgrade skills, promote social inclusion and improve the public administration. The challenge now is to implement this ambitious strategy. I wish the best of success to Hungary in this."

Mr. Gordon Bajnai, Minister of Local Governments and Regional Development for Hungary expressed "I am convinced, that the fact, the European Commission stamped all of our Operational Programs for the period 2007-2013 among the very first Member States of the Union, means a collective success achieved by Hungarian people. The fulfillment of our development plan is a national task, which means, that these programs offer opportunity and serious responsibility for each and every Hungarian citizen. We have developed the plans together, and now it is also our turn to carry them out successfully.â€

The fifteen operational programmes include seven regional and eight sectoral programmes. The Transport OP is the biggest programme. This will include investments of nearly € 6.2 billion from the European Regional Development Fund and from the Cohesion Fund. The programme on "Environment and Energy" will receive investments of nearly € 4.2 billion, from the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund. The national contribution to complement the European investment is 4.4 billion euros.

The Commission welcomes the clear commitment of the authorities in favour of the Trans-european transport networks with 50% of the expenditure directed towards sustainable transport and 50 % for roads. In the environmental field, Hungary will promote actions to fall into line with European regulations (such as the Water directive, regulations on flood protection etc). The OP on economic development will focus on support for small and medium sized enterprises (SME) and enterprises involved in Research and development (R&D) activities. One programme "Social Infrastructure", funded by the ERDF (totalling 1.9 billion euros), will help to modernise the education sector (schools) and hospitals.

The EU support from the European Social Fund (ESF) will be channelled through two operational programmes. The Social Renewal OP, providing nearly € 3.5 billion of funds, aims to increase labour market participation by improving employability and adaptability, providing quality education and ensuring all people have access to education. It will also focus on developing the content and organisation of higher education, strengthening social inclusion and participation, health preservation and human resource development in health systems. The State Reform OP plans to use the € 146,5 million of funding to increase the public administration's performance by reviewing processes and organisational development and improve the quality of its human resources.

The ERDF will also contribute towards the financing of the "European Territorial Cooperation Objectiveâ€. Hungary will be taking part in operational programmes which will be adopted in the coming weeks for:

Cross border cooperation with Slovakia, Austria, Romania and Slovenia

Transnational cooperation between Central-Eastern Europe and South Eastern Europe

Interregional cooperation in the European Union among all the Member States.

Now that the programmes have been adopted, the "managing authorities" (relevant national and regional authorities) can now start to implement policy and select concrete projects on the ground.

Further information on Hungarian cohesion policy and summaries of Hungarian programmes available at:

Further information about European Employment, Social affairs and Equal opportunities Policies is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/index_en.html