Economy
Hungary seeks to audit Norwegian grants
Operative programmes at the finish
Csepreghy said at the conference that contrary to operative programmes using 15 cohesion and structural funds and two using rural development funds, EU grants will be used in 10 operative programmes in the 2014-2020 period.
Hungary will have HUF 10.5 trillion worth of EU funds available in the next funding programme period, including agricultural grants, 60% of which are to be spend on economic development, he added.
Csepreghy reiterated that in the new funding programme period the government will do away with intermediaries between the applicants and the state that distributes EU funds, as these only exploited the complexity of the institutional system. Tendering tasks are to be provided by a network of the Széchenyi Progamme Office, where the state would offer its services for applicants free of charge. This, he added, would also imply a guarantee for quality with respect to the required formalities. State assistance would be granted not only for the application itself, but throughout the entire project.
It is Hungary's duty to edit Norwegian grants
Csepreghy stressed that it is not only the right but also a duty of the Hungarian government to audit the distribution of grants from Norwegian Funds in Hungary to see whether it was in order or not.
Norway suspended payment on EUR 153 million in grants to Hungary earlier this month after the government shifted monitoring and implementation of some of the funds from the government to a state company. Hungary has no authority for an audit, the administrator of the grants said on its website, prompting an angry response from the country’s government.“It’s unparalleled in Europe that a foreign power openly advocates breaking the law of another country," Csepreghy said in an e-mailed statement today. “The bigger the opposition to the audit, the more committed the government will be to carry it out."
He stressed that as every Hungarian citizen is entitled to such grants, it is of public interest to see whether these funds were used in the interest of them. “[...] only those have reason to fear who have something to hide," he added.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government accuses a local organization, Ökotárs, of distributing some of the Norwegian funds to groups that support LMP, a pro-environmental opposition party. The group and the central administrator of the Norwegian grants reject the charge.
The government wants to know whether the organisations that did not receive grants from the Norwegian NGO Fund were not excluded because their values did not match the political ideology of the donors, said Csepreghy.
He argued that six applicants for the management of the fund’s grants in Hungary were rejected “only because of their names", and that Norway has not responded either to Hungary’s previous and current concerns.
Hungary has no authority for audit
“According to the applicable agreements between Hungary and the Donor States, the Financial Mechanism Office (FMO) is entrusted with operating the NGO Fund and the Hungarian state bears no responsibility for the implementation of the programme, financially or otherwise," the Norwegian Embassy in Budapest said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Furthermore, the NGO Programme does not receive any funding from Hungarian state budget; therefore no funds from Hungarian state budget are managed by the Ökotárs Foundation in this context. Therefore, it falls within the responsibility of the FMO and the EFTA Board of Auditors, not the Hungarian authorities, to audit the Ökotárs Foundation and the NGO Programme," it added.
The Embassy reminded that these programmes are audited regularly and “an audit of the NGO Programme in Hungary has already been planned and will be carried out during the autumn. The results of this audit will certainly be made available to the Hungarian authorities."
The Embassy once again reject all allegations of supporting, financially or otherwise, any party political activity in Hungary, adding that “these would run counter to the objectives and the principles of the NGO Fund."
“Finally, it needs to be reiterated that the Hungarian government’s position on the implementation of the NGO Fund has no relation the current suspension of the payments within the EEA and Norway Grants, and therefore has no bearing on the on-going dialogue regarding the modification of the MoUs, with the aim of agreeing on the institutional setup of the National Focal Point."
On this issue, the Hungarian authorities and the representatives of the Donor States will formally meet on 12 June in Brussels.
Unacceptable tone
Ökotárs foundation said in early may they have read “with dismay" the statement of Csepreghy made on the 30 April through the press where he called the foundations, as the Operator consortium of the EEA/Norwegian NGO Funds “party-dependent, cheating nobodies".
“We find this tone unacceptable - specially from a senior government official - that breached the reputation of our organizations and that we have to reject in the strongest terms."
About the Embassy’s statement Csepreghy said he “would like to think that it does not reflect the stance of the Norwegian government [and] it is [the result] of the overzealousness of a bureaucrat accredited to Brussels."
Csepreghy said at the conference that contrary to operative programmes using 15 cohesion and structural funds and two using rural development funds, EU grants will be used in 10 operative programmes in the 2014-2020 period.
Hungary will have HUF 10.5 trillion worth of EU funds available in the next funding programme period, including agricultural grants, 60% of which are to be spend on economic development, he added.
Csepreghy reiterated that in the new funding programme period the government will do away with intermediaries between the applicants and the state that distributes EU funds, as these only exploited the complexity of the institutional system. Tendering tasks are to be provided by a network of the Széchenyi Progamme Office, where the state would offer its services for applicants free of charge. This, he added, would also imply a guarantee for quality with respect to the required formalities. State assistance would be granted not only for the application itself, but throughout the entire project.
It is Hungary's duty to edit Norwegian grants
Csepreghy stressed that it is not only the right but also a duty of the Hungarian government to audit the distribution of grants from Norwegian Funds in Hungary to see whether it was in order or not.
Norway suspended payment on EUR 153 million in grants to Hungary earlier this month after the government shifted monitoring and implementation of some of the funds from the government to a state company. Hungary has no authority for an audit, the administrator of the grants said on its website, prompting an angry response from the country’s government.“It’s unparalleled in Europe that a foreign power openly advocates breaking the law of another country," Csepreghy said in an e-mailed statement today. “The bigger the opposition to the audit, the more committed the government will be to carry it out."
He stressed that as every Hungarian citizen is entitled to such grants, it is of public interest to see whether these funds were used in the interest of them. “[...] only those have reason to fear who have something to hide," he added.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government accuses a local organization, Ökotárs, of distributing some of the Norwegian funds to groups that support LMP, a pro-environmental opposition party. The group and the central administrator of the Norwegian grants reject the charge.
The government wants to know whether the organisations that did not receive grants from the Norwegian NGO Fund were not excluded because their values did not match the political ideology of the donors, said Csepreghy.
He argued that six applicants for the management of the fund’s grants in Hungary were rejected “only because of their names", and that Norway has not responded either to Hungary’s previous and current concerns.
Hungary has no authority for audit
“According to the applicable agreements between Hungary and the Donor States, the Financial Mechanism Office (FMO) is entrusted with operating the NGO Fund and the Hungarian state bears no responsibility for the implementation of the programme, financially or otherwise," the Norwegian Embassy in Budapest said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Furthermore, the NGO Programme does not receive any funding from Hungarian state budget; therefore no funds from Hungarian state budget are managed by the Ökotárs Foundation in this context. Therefore, it falls within the responsibility of the FMO and the EFTA Board of Auditors, not the Hungarian authorities, to audit the Ökotárs Foundation and the NGO Programme," it added.
The Embassy reminded that these programmes are audited regularly and “an audit of the NGO Programme in Hungary has already been planned and will be carried out during the autumn. The results of this audit will certainly be made available to the Hungarian authorities."
The Embassy once again reject all allegations of supporting, financially or otherwise, any party political activity in Hungary, adding that “these would run counter to the objectives and the principles of the NGO Fund."
“Finally, it needs to be reiterated that the Hungarian government’s position on the implementation of the NGO Fund has no relation the current suspension of the payments within the EEA and Norway Grants, and therefore has no bearing on the on-going dialogue regarding the modification of the MoUs, with the aim of agreeing on the institutional setup of the National Focal Point."
On this issue, the Hungarian authorities and the representatives of the Donor States will formally meet on 12 June in Brussels.
Unacceptable tone
Ökotárs foundation said in early may they have read “with dismay" the statement of Csepreghy made on the 30 April through the press where he called the foundations, as the Operator consortium of the EEA/Norwegian NGO Funds “party-dependent, cheating nobodies".
“We find this tone unacceptable - specially from a senior government official - that breached the reputation of our organizations and that we have to reject in the strongest terms."
About the Embassy’s statement Csepreghy said he “would like to think that it does not reflect the stance of the Norwegian government [and] it is [the result] of the overzealousness of a bureaucrat accredited to Brussels."
