Welcome

At our previous encounter in November 2023, we discussed the role of cohesion policy in the sustainable and digital transition. In the year and a half since then, we have seen to what extent the ideas and thoughts expressed then have been borne out, and what changes and interventions have been and are needed in the implementation process. In retrospect, we can also say that without the knowledge transfer and the knowledge of each other's good solutions, we would have been less successful in meeting the changing challenges in our field.

The road to these goals is far from smooth. Social, environmental, economic changes and global realities are constantly challenging those programme implementers. As outlined in the Mario Draghi report published on 9 September 2024, Europe will need to embrace radical change to remain competitive with China and the United States in a rapidly changing geopolitical environment. It urgently needs to boost its productivity to achieve sustainable growth, with significant investment and EU-wide cohesion playing a key role. The Draghi report emphasises the need to make more effective use of EU funds, in particular through results-oriented allocation of structural and cohesion funds, and to strengthen development policies that promote innovation and sustainable growth, which will help reduce regional disparities and foster economic convergence.

The debate on the future of cohesion policy was also one of the most important topics of the Hungarian Presidency of the EU, and therefore the Budapest Declaration, as the New European Competitiveness Declaration adopted jointly by the leaders of the Member States, which emphasises the need to improve the competitiveness of the European Union and sets out the main guidelines for the next institutional term in this field, can be considered a major success. In the Budapest Declaration, the Heads of State and Government identified 12 main areas for action, focusing on strengthening the Single Market, renewing industrial policy, promoting a Capital Markets Union and striking a balance between economic security and a sustainable open trade policy rooted in WTO principles. We must step up our efforts to realise the potential of the Single Market and remove the remaining barriers to the Internal Market. This requires reducing bureaucracy and the burden on businesses, especially SMEs, and therefore a "simplification revolution" is a priority, aiming at a simple and smart regulatory framework, in particular by drastically reducing administrative, regulatory and reporting burdens.

Cohesion policy is one of the most effective policies of the EU and Hungary has a vital stake in its future success. Moreover, in the current development cycle we are also striving to ensure that the resources Hungary is entitled to are put to proper use and that projects are implemented that increase the economic strength of the country and the European Union, because the greater Hungary's competitiveness, the more competitive the European Union is, and with every Hungarian development we also contribute to common European goals.

In recent years, Hungary has made significant progress in the use of EU funds: in the 2014-2020 programming period, we supported more than 30,000 projects by small and medium-sized enterprises and thousands of research and development projects. These figures also show that cohesion policy is an effective tool for promoting economic development. At the same time, we are aware that there are many challenges ahead. Demographic change, digitalisation and climate change are all factors that affect the performance of cohesion policy. It is therefore important to constantly renew and improve programmes to meet changing needs. Our goal is that by the end of the decade, all Hungarian regions should be close to the EU average.