Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The European Commission adopted the Partnership Agreement with Hungary on Wednesday to strengthen administrative capacity and tackle corruption.
The body pointed out in a statement that the deal “has close links with the Recovery and Resilience Plan and Rule of Law Conditionality process,” and is worth nearly 22 billion euro.
In the period between 2021 and 2027, Hungary is to use the money to pursue EU goals and priorities including digital and green transitions, and balanced regional development, among other.
“The Partnership Agreement is the strategic document laying the ground for investments from EU cohesion funds through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund, the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the Just Transition Fund (JTF) and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF),” the EC pointed out.
Under the agreement, Hungary will implement 11 national programmes that the EC approved as part of the deal.
Hungary will invest roughly 6.7 billion euro from the ERDF in energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable transport, promotion of circular economy, protection of biodiversity and water and wastewater management.
The country will invest more than 250 million euro from the JTF in regions that are most affected by the phasing out of coal as part of the green push. Investments will also go towards economic diversification of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), promotion of new star-ups and education programmes to help workers find new jobs.
Regaining access to EU funds
Elisa Ferreira, European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, stated “EU funds are a sign of solidarity of all Europeans with the people of Hungary” and added “these investments can only be effective if accompanies by the appropriate institutional and legal environment and if implemented in line with the EU’s rules and values.”
Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, announced the EC “will work closely with the country to make sure that people in Hungary will be able to benefit from this critical EU support while fully respecting the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.”
The Commission concluded that Hungary is “committed to remedy the deficiencies” of its judiciary, pointing out that the recovery and resilience plan includes reforms the EC demanded in return for access to EU money.
