The government already knows: the Hungarians do not reach the EU one percent

While according to the Hungarian Development Office (MFOI).

hundreds or even thousands of direct EU applications are available every day,

which offer a wide range of opportunities for companies and organizations to raise funds, according to the executive director of the MFOI, unfortunately

currently, the domestic share does not reach even one percent of the value of direct EU funding,

but it’s a lot of money. Almost one third of the seven-year EU budget cycle

there are four hundred billion euros in this framework.

In his interview with Economx, Petri Bernadett, who is the ministerial commissioner responsible for the coordination of the use of direct EU funds, spoke about, among other things, that although the number of Hungarian companies participating in direct EU funds has been steadily increasing over the past two years, the long-term goal is to increase the domestic number by three to five times. resource utilization ratio, which can only be realized if the number of tenders is also expanded to such an extent.

However, according to the head of the MFOI, this is more of a regional problem.

In Hungary, the drawdown ratio is 12-13 euros per person per year, while the EU average is 60 euros.

At the same time, the Czech Republic and Poland are also behind us in terms of many programs, while in several western member states the share per capita is two hundred to three hundred euros, in Luxembourg it is even ten times the EU average. These are not calculation errors, but structural differences, added Petri Bernadett. He also emphasized that for this very reason the goal of the development office was not only to catch up with Hungarian applicants and to improve their capacity. He said that it is necessary to understand with the European Union what kind of notices are needed in Central and Eastern Europe, since change is needed in this area as well. According to him, in many cases the programs do not take into account the Central and Eastern European aspects, but rather the needs of the large Western European countries.

What is important to a Hungarian, a Polish, or a Czech company in terms of digitalization is different than, say, a Dutch or a German one. A different system of criteria must be applied, because while a startup in Hungary consists of two to three people, in Germany it consists of twelve to ten people, while the EU requirement is over ten. Therefore, Hungarian businesses are excluded from the fundraising opportunities available to startups, Petri Bernadett pointed out.

At the same time, we learned that in the past three years, a significant sum of more than one billion euros has been added to the domestic economy from direct EU programs:

• Just over 281 million in 2021, the lowest figure since the programs started late in Brussels,
• 330 million in 2022,
• And in 2023, more than 400 million euros.

In addition, the MFOI’s own analysis shows that the companies that won such direct EU tenders grew exponentially. So, the critical phase here is really until we get them to the point where they can participate in these projects, and then they are already carried by the “flow” that comes from stepping out into an international business arena, building relationships. From then on, practically everything goes on its own way – pointed out the managing director, at the same time he also noted: this cannot be completely, and even does not necessarily have to be remedied by a centralized government measure, the actors must understand that they must also deal with innovation and market research .

The By the way, MFOI also invited him to an interesting tender the attention of Hungarian businesses, as the CEF-Digital (Connecting Europe Facility – Digital) program has just opened its latest calls for tenders, which offer 323 million euros in co-financing for the development of digital connection infrastructures. This call is part of the second work program of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which defines the framework and objectives of activities supported by the European Union for the period up to 2027.

The main areas of the application:

• 5G large-scale pilot projects: development of an independent 5G infrastructure, with a budget of 105 million euros.
• Backbone connectivity for digital global gateways (mainly submarine and land cables): mainly submarine and land cables, EUR 128 million for studies and works.
• Quantum communication infrastructure – EuroQCI initiative: a quantum communication infrastructure for connections between member states, with a budget of 90 million euros.

According to the MFOI, public or private organizations (including joint ventures) registered in the member states of the European Union, including overseas countries and territories, can participate in CEF-Digital tenders. Under certain conditions, the tenders enable cross-border and international collaborations, thus supporting broader and more complex digital infrastructure projects.

By the way, the CEF measures adopted by the European Commission receive support of around 865 million euros between 2024 and 2027.