Gulyas: No EU funding losses

Hungary is not losing a single cent of European Union funding and transfers are ongoing, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, Gergely Gulyas, told a regular government press briefing on Thursday. Gulyas said EU funding totalled 7,500 billion forints (EUR 22.5bn), and thanks to a favourable exchange rate, this amount was now worth up to 8,000 billion forints. Operational programmes, however, are receiving a total of 9,100 billion forints, as the Hungarian state is providing more than matching funds. He said disputes with Brussels over funding only accounted for a small percentage of programmes, and a resolution was highly likely in these cases. Gulyas said so far 41 percent of EU funds had been drawn down, "an especially very good ratio". Hungary is ranked ninth in this respect and is top of the list of Visegrad countries, he added.