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According to the government, the domestic warehouse for EU fans will be built with EU money, but the European Commission knows otherwise, Népszava reported.
In March, the European Commission decided to create a strategic reserve for ventilators, protective masks and other medical devices. Assistance will be provided through the existing EU Civil Protection Mechanism. This means that if a country cannot cope with the emergency, it can ask the European Commission for help. Distribution is managed by a coordination center to get the equipment where it is most needed.
Under the March decision, medical supplies will be located in one or more Member States, which will act as distribution centers. At the end of September, Hungary also joined the host countries, along with Denmark, Greece and Sweden. The host countries receive direct support from Brussels, which accounts for 100 percent of the acquisition, transportation and storage of assets.
In mid-September, a government decree entitled “Provide the source of tasks related to the establishment of the Hungarian warehouse base for the Covid-19 pandemic ventilation equipment” was issued, in which the government ordered the provision of 1.5 billion HUF for VAT and 1.1 billion HUF for pre-financing. .
The EU supports
All of this sparked heated controversy because some interpreted the decree as saying the government would build a $ 2.5 billion warehouse to store thousands of expensive, unused fans purchased in the spring. Tamás Menczer, Secretary of State for Information and International Representation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Affairs, strongly rejected this claim, stating that “the European Union, with the help of Hungary, will buy fans, store them in Hungary, but of course , it will deploy them where they are needed. The project will cost the Hungarian budget nothing. “
Like Menczer, the Ministry of the Interior wrote to Népszava: “The entry, preparation and provision of the warehouse and the assets placed in it are fully financed by the European Union: 80% in the form of pre-financing and 20% in the form of clearing at the time of settlement – that is, until the close of the EU settlement, until the settlement of the balance – amount of the debit (calculated at the current exchange rate) 1,486,701,372 HUF “.
Brussels doesn’t know
However, this contradicts the position of the European Commission, which made it clear on the Nepszava issue that no money will be given for the construction of a new warehouse, the warehouse can also store its own assets. Due to the statement from the European Commission, the newspaper asked BM again if the union would cover the costs of setting up the warehouse, but they did not respond until the article was published.
According to Népszava, the European Commission has also revealed that it is the responsibility of the storage country to purchase supplies and equipment through public procurement. The EU body expects Member States to carry out public procurement in accordance with national law in accordance with EU rules.
According to the European Commission, Romania and Germany received € 14 million from a specific budget of € 370 million, compared to a total of € 170 million for the four countries that later joined the initiative. The Brussels board does not reveal exactly how much it pays a country because it does not want to jeopardize public procurement negotiations.
There will be no previously purchased fan in stock
By comparison, the Interior Ministry, for the sake of Népszava, stated quite precisely what and how much it would buy. “The rescEU aims to acquire 465 ventilators (and 1,860 syringe infusion pumps, 465 volumetric infusion pumps, 465 pump docking stations, 465 patient monitors and 50 central monitoring systems) for the EU stock and the acquisition procedure exclusively for them. “
At the request of Népszava, the Interior Ministry also revealed that the EU warehouse will be stored in the rescEU warehouse and that Hungarian fans and other devices already purchased cannot be used to replenish the stock.
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