“Under Pressure”: Permanent Transformation of the Administration of Regional Development in Hungary

Abstract

This paper could be interpreted as a problem map, by which the challenges
and solutions of the Hungarian regional development administration could be
identified. The paper focuses on the institutional, organisational system, and the
changes of the regulatory environment of these bodies from the time of the pre-ac
cession until 2024 are analysed. This transformation of the administration has
a direct impact on sensitive political issues, and this structure was even an object
of power games in the Hungarian politics. Therefore, the main factors of the
Hungarian administration have been, first of all, the European environment, es
pecially the regulations related to the EU budgetary cycles. Secondly, as it could
be seen, the changes of the government and even the power struggles within the
governments have been a significant factor of the changes of the administrative
organisation of the Hungarian regional development system. In the Hungarian
regional development administration, a fragmentation at the government level
can be seen, where under certain governments different aspects of the regional
development were shared sometimes by three-four major actors. This fragmenta
tion continued until 2022, when a comprehensive integration was undertaken by
merging all issues linked to regional development into one ministry.