PM pledges Ft 130bn for Hungary's most deprived areas

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány on Monday promised over Ft 130 billion in state subsidies to improve the living conditions of the one million residents in Hungary's most deprived areas, within the framework of the "Catch-up Programme" (ÚMFP). Some Ft 135 billion is set aside, Gyurcsány and Local Government and Regional Development Minister Gordon Bajnai said at a conference for the leaders of Hungary's 33 poorest regions.

ÚMFP is aiming to create jobs at micro and small business levels. "The deprived regions are also favoured in other subsidy programmes, thus the overall sum available to them is Ft 300 billion," Gyurcsány stressed.

Fidesz MP Norbert Erdős responded that the prime minister is himself the "biggest problem" for the regions, as "if there was ever a decision that rendered residents' lives impossible, it was the closures of their schools, railway lines and outpatients clinics in small villages."

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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