It becomes simpler to apply for European Union funding

In the 2014-2020 period it will be simpler to apply for European Union funding – announced Nándor Csepreghy, deputy state secretary responsible for development policy communication at the Prime Minister’s Office. In the future only electronic application will be possible and fewer documents will have to be submitted. The earlier application process will be preserved. but in the public sector resources will simply be allocated instead of having to participate in tenders. As of 1 January 2015 the scheduling of payments will take into consideration the tax burdens of enterprises and the project characteristics. The existence of own resources will only have to be proved when the last 10 percent of the total funding is to be used. A lower proportion, maximum 12.5 percent of application-related costs will be allowed to be written off in the future (in the past this used to be maximum 35.5 percent). In the new period the proportion of direct costs can be maximum 7 percent and that of indirect costs can be 5.5 percent. Hungary will get a EUR 4.145-billion (more than HUF 1,200-billion) budget from the EU for rural development purposes. A budget of EUR 13.061 billion can be used in agriculture, and from this sum EUR 8.916 billion can be utilised for direct subsidies and financing market measures. This means that if we calculate with a HUF 300 exchange rate for the euro, Hungary will receive HUF 653 billion from the EU for agricultural and rural development every year until 2020.