Commission Report 2002 (Hungary)

Economic criteria

Delays have occurred with regard to the development and the implementation of a comprehensive public health care reform that ensures a high level of health protection at a sustainable cost to the government budget with a view to guaranteeing medium-term sustainability of public finances. However, some progress has been made with regard to improving the IT infrastructure of the National Health Fund Administration, as well as with regard to the legal framework for hospitals and general practitioners. The new government`s programme declared health care reform a main priority. Government accounting at local level and timeliness of data provision to central authorities have been further improved both in legal terms and with regard to administrative capacity. Since January 2002, local governments have been obliged to present a preliminary annual financial report of the preceding year by 15 January at the latest to the Ministry of Finance. However, the legal rules regulating the reporting and bookkeeping obligation of public finance institutions need further adaptations, as the Action Plan requires. Railway restructuring has been continued with a view to reducing the medium-term impact on public finances by means of an amendment to the railway act, which regulates the conditions for access to the railway network and which entered into force in January 2002. As regards the establishment of the necessary conditions for an efficient agricultural land market, this matter has been partially addressed, as outlined in the Action Plan. New legislation on agricultural land was adopted in December 2001, but the new government presented a new land package in July 2002, modifying the 1994 legislation further and clarifying, inter alia, the priority list with regard to the purchase and lease of land. However, further modifications are needed. The National Land Fund has been established as the managing institution. Hungary continued to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, among others by means of the Enterprise Development Programme, a sub-programme of the Széchenyi Plan. However, access to finance still remains the main obstacle to the development of Hungarian SMEs, but some progress has been made through government support schemes for SMEs.

Overall, the Accession Partnership priorities in the economic sector have been partially met. The implementation of the measures under the Action Plan is largely on track.

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