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ÁDER DISCUSSES COHESION FUNDS, GERMAN INVESTMENTS WITH STEINMEIER

 

Cohesion funds in the next EU budgetary period and German investments in Hungary were in focus at talks the Hungarian president held with his German counterpart in Athens on Saturday. János Áder met Frank-Walter Steinmeier after a meeting of the Arraiolos group. Speaking to public media after their talks, Áder said they were in agreement that the EU’s cohesion funds should continue to serve their original purpose of developing disadvantaged regions. There are 20 such regions in the whole of the EU, four of them in Hungary, Áder said. “Therefore we cannot give up on receiving from EU development funds,” he added. The proposals on funding in the next EU budgetary cycle would affect most unfavourably the least developed member states and regions and cannot therefore be considered fair, Áder said. The Friends of Cohesion group, formed by 14 EU countries, will seek to change the current financial proposals at every forum, he said. He said that at their talks German investments in Hungary were also discussed. German companies prefer to invest in Hungary because they consider it to be a predictable country in terms of economic regulations, Áder said. “The German intention and objective is clear: maintaining this process in the coming years,” the Hungarian president said.