Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has sent a “friendly, polite” letter to the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council Chairman Herman Van Rompuy requesting that Hungary’s stand be taken into consideration when EU finance ministers take a decision on a proposal to suspend €150 billion in Cohesion Fund allocations at a meeting on March 13, daily Népszabadság said on Thursday, citing a copy of the letter that it obtained.
In the letter, dated March 6, Orbán confirmed the government’s commitment to bringing the general government deficit to a level in line with EU expectations. He noted that the government had announced further fiscal adjustments equivalent to 0.4% of GDP on February 9.
Orbán said in the letter that, while the government was only able to control the gap with extraordinary measures in 2011 and 2012, structural measures would do the same in 2013.
The Commission proposed in February the suspension of €495 million of Cohesion Fund allocations for Hungary for 2013 because of the country’s failure to address its excessive deficit.
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
