First tenders for Hungarian village funding scheme called

The government on Wednesday called the first tenders in the Hungarian Village Programme, a 150 billion forint (EUR 473m) development scheme that aims to slow depopulation in communities with fewer than 5,000 residents. The aim of the tenders is to "strengthen local identity by developing public spaces" with the involvement of churches as well as local community and cultural centres. The tenders allocate 7 billion forints in funding for churches and 6 billion for community and cultural centres. The monies may be used for the upgrade of buildings, the organisation of community programmes and wage support for people to staff such schemes.