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New Hungary Development Plan

Negotiations between the European Commission and the Hungarian government concerning the New Hungary Development Plan have been closed. As a result of anticipated changes, an even higher rate of funding will be made available for reaching employment and economic growth objectives, whilst a slightly lower rate of funding in relation to original plans will be allocated for transport development.

National Development Plan

The objective of the strategy chapter of the National Development Plan is to designate the development policy objectives and priorities for the 2004-2006-period that can be funded from the Structural Funds. However, this short three-year period is not sufficiently long to implement a comprehensive national development strategy, or deal with matters identified within the framework of Situation Analysis. This is why it is also necessary to lay down the pillars of long-term development policy spanning beyond the programming period that ends in 2006 in the present document, in addition to ensuring that the strategic framework for the following planning period is set up.

EEA Financing Mechanism and the Norwegian Fund

Since the EAA countries (Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland) have agreed to pay for participation in the EU internal market, and the Norwegian state has concluded a series of bilateral agreements, the ten new member-states are granted development funding, out of which Hungary receives a share of a total of an additional 27 million Euros throughout a 5-year period.

Schengen Fund

The Schengen Facility, established on the basis of Article 35 of the Treaty of Accession of the European Union supports adjustment to Schengen requirements. New member states, and consequently Hungary as well, receive a considerable rate of funding from the Funds. These resources enable the earliest possible application of the Schengen acquis, with special regard to external border control.

Twinning Programme

Twinning is an initiative of the European Commission that was launched in 1998 in the context of the preparation for enlargement of the European Union. It was conceived as an instrument for targeted administrative co-operation to assist the pro tempore Candidate Countries to strengthen their administrative and judicial capacity to implement EU legislation as future Member States of the European Union. It has remained an important pre-accession instrument which is now available for all the candidate countries and pre-candidates benefitting from the Instrument of pre-accession (IPA): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. As from the end of 2003, Twinning has been available to some of the countries covered by the programme for Newly Independent States were Partnership and Cooperation Agreements are signed between the Newly Independent States and the EU.

The European Grouping of Cross-Border Cooperation

INTERREG Community Initiative

The INTERREG cooperation programme is one of the four European Union Community Initiatives. The European Commission recommends INTERREG initiatives to Member States – as opposed to regional and other structural programmes – as cooperation areas fundamentally aimed to stimulate development and cohesion across the entire EU territory.

Swiss Contribution

The European Commission and Switzerland signed a bilateral agreement on 27 February 2006 on the Swiss Contribution established by the Swiss government. In accordance with the Agreement, Switzerland shall ensure one-off non-reimbursable support of a total of 1 billion CHF over a 5-year period for the ten new Member States. Hungary received a funding of more than 130 million Swiss Francs under the programme, which is equal to approximately 31 billion Hungarian Forints at the current exchange rate; this amount puts Hungary to the third place in the ranking of the supported countries.

Lisbon Action Programme

The report on Hungary’s Revised National Lisbon Action Programme presenting the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy in Hungary and compiled by taking account of the European Commission country report and its recommendations was submitted to the European Commission on 15 October 2007.

Community Initiatives

The European Union set up four special programmes, so-called Community Initiatives, in order to find common solutions for problems impacting the entire EU. Similarly to the Structural Funds, Community Initiatives also target economic and social cohesion objectives; the essential difference is in the work methods applied. While the Structural Funds are coordinated at a national level, Community Initiatives are managed centrally by Brussels.

Community Programmes

Community Programmes are actions underpinning the implementation of Community policies covering almost every area of social an economic life. Pursuant to the decision of the European Council at the EU Summit in Copenhagen in 1993, the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe are also eligible to apply for specific Community Programmes in order to prepare for integration.

Pre-accession Funds

Three pre-programmes have been set up for countries that wish to join the European Union, namely: ISPA, SAPARD and PHARE. ISPA is a pre-accession instrument for structural policy granting assistance for environmental protection and transport projects. SAPARD is the special pre-accession programme supporting sustainable agricultural and rural development.

The Cohesion Fund

The Cohesion Fund aims to reduce disparities in the level of development currently existing in the case of the poorest member states of the Community. This special solidarity fund was set up in 1993 to help improve the situation of the four poorest member states, namely, Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain. It is possible to implement major transport and environmental project by using funding granted by the Cohesion Fund.

The Cohesion Policy

Future of the EU cohesion policy

The Sturctural Funds

The Structural Funds is the main financial instrument of the regional policy of the EU. The EU has been actively financing its regional policy since the 1970s, however has only been called the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund Guidance section (EAGGF GF), jointly referred to as the Structural Funds, since 1988, to which the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) set up during the last enlargement was added.

Transition Facility

On the eve of accession, the European Union developed new types of assistance for candidate countries to eliminate problems relating to the period immediately preceding accession.