On Tuesday, in an interview with Hungarian press agency MTI, Csaba Latorcai, Deputy Minister of State for Church, Civil Society and Nationality Affairs, said that the grant application procedure for civil society organisations has been become simpler and faster.
Mr. Latorcai said that it is a great achievement that the calls for applications for next year have been released this November, and therefore he hopes that organisations choosing pre-financing will receive operational funding by the end of April. This year HUF 45 billion in funding has been made available from the state budget for civil society groups. Mr. Latorcai said that next year a sum of this scale will also be available.
On the whole, the largest sums have been made available to civil society organisations providing public services, said the Deputy Minister of State. These were primarily social services linked to existing state services. Mr. Latorcai cited hospice services, the community-building programmes of special homes providing activities for the elderly, and school services which assist in dramatically increasing the knowledge and abilities of students.
The Deputy Minister of State highlighted those EU calls for applications which target the stimulation of employment.
the Deputy Minister of State said that, in order to make the various state databases accessible through one site, work on the development of the civil society information portal has also started; and in the first quarter of next year experience gained from the law on civil society adopted last year will be discussed with stakeholders, in a process of public consultation.
(Office of the Human Rights Working Group, EMMI)
