Bóka: EU's cohesion policy is under a “comprehensive attack of elemental strength”

János Bóka, EU Affairs Minister, said the European Union’s current cohesion policy is under a “comprehensive attack of elemental strength”, with the European Commission working to ensure that the policy ceases to exist in its current form in the next seven-year financial cycle. Speaking at the MCC Feszt festival organised by the Matthias Corvinus Collegium in Esztergom, in northern Hungary, Minister Bóka said “the EC is proposing unified payment packages which member states could in theory use more freely, but will only be accessible if there is a reform program approved by the EC and if the EU’s financial interests are fully protected.” Such a program “would practically strip member states from their budgetary and economic policy tools; could only be implemented through the joint program approved by the Commission,” Bóka said.