EU to provide EUR 16 million for Serbia-Hungary cross-border projects

The European Union will co-finance over 60 selected projects, worth the total of about EUR 16 million, through the Hungary-Serbia IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme, it was said after a meeting between the representatives of local self-governments and institutions whose projects have been approved for co-funding.

Relja Burzan, head of the Hungary-Serbia IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Information Office, stated that the third call for proposals had been closed in May 2012. From that moment until early November, competent people were examining 262 project proposals to select 61 projects of non-profitable institutions from Vojvodina and their partner organizations based in Hungarian counties Csongrad and Bacs-Kiskun.

- The total value of the EU donation for selected projects amounts to about EUR 16.2 million. It may also happen that some projects from the reserve list be financed if additional funds are freed up. All these years, project funding priorities have remained the same: infrastructure and ecology, economy, education and culture - said Burzan.

As he explained, the European Union refunds 85 percent of the reported budget of the project upon its implementation, that is, after all the funds are used according to the agreed program.

When it comes to Subotica, the European Union will provide EUR 2 million to co-finance 16 projects of 17 organizations from Subotica and their partners from Hungary. Subotica Mayor Modest Dulic said after the meeting that one of the projects of the local self-government was the construction of a border crossing between Bajmok and Bacsalmasz, worth the total of EUR 1.7 million, adding that over 50 percent of the project value would be granted to Subotica.