There were also 100 small settlements where the business no longer operated in previous years, but the small shops were reopened with the help of the small shop renovation grant.

Thanks to the HUF 50 billion tender announced in 2021 in the Hungarian village program, it was possible to save convenience stores in about 1,400 settlements in Hungary, said the government commissioner responsible for the development of modern settlements at Újtelek in Bács-Kiskun County.

Alpár Gyopáros pointed out that among the applicants there were 100 small settlements where the business had ceased to operate in previous years, but the small shops were able to be reopened with the help of the small shop renovation tender fund.

The government commissioner also reported that around eighty settlements in the Bács-Kiskun county took advantage of the opportunity and applied for a total of HUF 2 billion to save the shops of the small settlements. He emphasized that the tender created an opportunity to renovate or purchase the properties in which the convenience store operated. The claimants could also spend the funds on the purchase of equipment, so they could also renew the entire equipment of the shop, but they could also use part of the amount won in the form of wage subsidies.

The government commissioner also said

later, in order to alleviate the energy crisis also arising from the bad responses of Brussels to the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Hungarian government decided to help small entrepreneurs through the difficult period.

He reminded: within the framework of the Magyar falu program, a temporary support fund was opened for all convenience stores operating in small settlements in Hungary, within the framework of which 2,800 small businesses were helped to pay their utility bills in the amount of HUF 8 billion.

Alpár Gyopáros recalled:

the Hungarian Village program was announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán back in 2018. The initiative started with measures to improve the quality of life, which typically meant infrastructure development related to public services, so mainly roads, sidewalks, and public institutions could be renewed in small settlements.

Later it became clear that the quality of public services also needs to be continuously improved, and the missing services - which determine the quality of life of the people living in the villages and encourage the people living there not to move - must be created, he added, indicating that this is why they decided to renovate the small shop in addition to announcing a tender.

In Újtelek, Bács-Kiskun County, the village's shop was renovated with HUF 21 million in grant funding from the Hungarian Village Program, in addition to HUF 5 million. In one of the smallest villages of the Kalocsa district, with a population of 364, a married couple has been running the store as a family business for three years. The grant was used for the external and internal renovation of the building, as well as for the purchase of tools and equipment.

MTI

Front page image: The renovated store of Újtelek in Bács-Kiskun County on February 15, 2024, in the photo published by the Prime Minister's Office. In the village of 364 people, in addition to 5 million forints of its own resources, the settlement's shop was renovated with approximately 21 million forints from the Hungarian village program. MTI/Prime Office