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Budapest to get EUR 770 million in EU development funding!
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Budapest has been awarded HUF 300 billion (EUR 770 million) worth of European Union development funding, Gergely Karácsony, the city’s mayor, said after talks with Elisa Ferreira, the European commissioner for cohesion and reforms, on Friday.
Budapest to receive EUR millions in EU funding
“Budapest, in spite of the government’s intentions, has been very successful in lobbying for gaining access to EU development funds,” Karácsony told a press conference at City Hall. “The money is already here in the operative programmes that have been approved by both the government and the European Commission.”
He said that at their meeting the EU commissioner had expressed support for the city’s detailed plans on how the funds will be spent.
The mayor said the 300 billion forints would be enough to carry out developments that serve Budapest’s and Europe’s shared goals such as adapting to climate change and joint cohesion.
The funds awarded to Budapest, he said, were roughly equivalent to the amount of funding the city received from the previous EU budget.
Outlining the plans on how the funds would be spent, Karácsony said 178 billion forints would go towards public transport upgrades. A total of 50 billion will be spent on making the districts greener, 38 billion will be allocated towards flood and sewage-related investments and 34 billion forints will be spent on housing and social care, the mayor said.
Remember, folks: This is not some Euro-largess. Most of it is Hungary’s own money: the funds Hungary paid into the E.U.’s enormous budget, now oh-so graciously being given back to us, with a small uplift.
A ‘small uplift’. Third most in the union. 1.5 Trillion HUF for the whole country. I think that qualifies as a benefit no? All members contribute, some are ‘net contributors’, others ‘net beneficieries’. Hungary has done very well with EU membership, if this is our only metric.