Less money from EU budget

Hungary has realised the the smallest positive financial balance among the new EU member states vis-á-vis the common European budget in 2004 as a percentage of its gross national income (GNI), the European Commission reported yesterday. But the balance was still positive with a surplus of EUR 176 million. The main reasons for this include lower than expected agricultural export subsidies due to high quality crops of last year, slow grant of other agricultural subsidies and a slow start in using structural and cohesion funds. Hungary has not asked for transferring structural funds into fast-track cash aid, unlike Poland and the Czech Republic, which has also contributed to a larger surplus for these two countries.