OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITS OF ECONOMIC CONVERGENCE FOR HUNGARY
OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITS OF ECONOMIC CONVERGENCE FOR HUNGARY

Summary/Abstract: The decision makers of the European Union have committed themselves a great number of times in the past two decades to decreasing the economic and social differences between the member states and also between the regions within them. The Regional (Cohesion) Policy of the Community was designed to achieve this aim: this is the policy that the populations in the poorest regions of the new members have trusted in. The results are, however, far from unambiguous. This paper seeks to find the reasons for this by examining the causes in Hungary. The hope of catching up with economically more developed countries is not new in Hungarian thinking. The very best of the intellectuals from the Reform Age to the present day (e.g. István Széchenyi1/, Miklós Wesselényi, Endre Ady2/, Oszkár Jászi, and István Bibó), in accordance with the spirit of the age and their social standings, asserted their conviction of the need for convergence and discussed its obstacles. The political propaganda prior to Hungary’s accession to the European Union (2004) set out the promise (both directly and indirectly) of catching up fast. The facts so far show that our wishes have not become reality. Therefore, an increasing part of the population looks on the European Union as on a bureaucratic hydrocephalus. The direct consequence is that the initial great enthusiasm has soon been replaced by disappointment and disillusionment and the recognition that we have again entertained disproportionate hopes. It seems that the economic forecasts of politicians concerning the impact of resources from EU funds have also been unrealistic. Given this knowledge, we have to recognise that our accession to the European Union will not automatically start our convergence. This paper attempts to answer two questions: - Has our economic performance achieved a substantial breakthrough as a result of our economic policy following the accession or has it been enough only to more or less maintain our position? - What impact have EU subsidies had on the economic convergence of Hungary and of our region?.

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