National
Development Agency

As a continuation of the successful cooperation launched between the institutions of the Republic of Hungary and the Republic of Croatia, a Hungarian delegation just visited Croatia to present Hungarian experiences gained so far in connection with the use made of European Union funding. This workshop was organised for high-ranking Croatian officials responsible for making decisions in connection with the use of EU funds available for Croatia and setting up the new Croatian institutional system responsible for managing Community funding. Representatives of the Hungarian development policy institutional system led the Hungarian delegation, which, among others, included Mr László Simon Vice-President for Integration at the National Development Agency, and Dr Péter Heil Head of the Minister’s Cabinet at the Prime Minister’s Office and former Vice-President of the National Development Agency.

Following the country’s accession to the EU, 2.2 billion EUR is expected to be made available for the Republic of Croatia over the 2012-2013 period to finance developments implemented from Community funding. Croatia needs to be sufficiently prepared, both in terms of its organisational structure and public administration system, for making use of this huge amount of funding, and the workshop was specifically organised with the intention of providing help in this regard. Consultations focused on sharing Hungarian experiences and "best practices" in themes, such as, setting up administrative bodies responsible for managing funding granted by EU funds or switching over from pre-accession funds to the structural funds.

"Sharing Hungarian experiences may be highly relevant for Croatia, since Hungary has accumulated a huge amount of experience over the past few years in connection with requesting and using EU funding; in addition, results achieved by Hungary are highly appreciated at an EU level" – said Mr László Simon. "The way in which almost 100% of the funding made available for implementing the first National Development Plan was requested is a great achievement, as is how Hungary ranks among the leading member states at a European level in terms of the use made of resources allocated under the NHDP. An exceptionally high ratio of funding has been contracted and Hungary has submitted, developed and been approved the highest ratio of major projects by Brussels, whilst at the same time, in terms of the amount of funding, Hungary has even managed to request a higher rate of funding than, for example, Greece or Spain, which two member states had the opportunity to build on a major institutional system in place earlier. Hungary operates an exemplary system with special characteristics, such as, performance-based payments with intermediate bodies, a standardised monitoring system or standardised regulations and procedures; at the same time, we pay penalty interest to applicants approved funding in the case of late payment, which, as far as we are aware has not been introduced in any other member state. We too, as well as the associates of the European Commission wish to draw these experiences and methods to the attention of the Croatian partner." added the Vice-President.

According to Croatian representatives, the structure set up by the National Development Agency may serve as an example to follow. This is a key institution, since it implements objectives and supervises the implementation of programmes and projects in a centralised and efficiently organised manner. 

Sharing experiences may also establish a basis for future successful cooperation, since cross-border initiatives and projects financed from EU funding are currently running and equally benefit the development of cross-border micro-regions and regions in both member states.