ABSTRACT

In Hungary the upper level of the local government is named megye or, in plural, megyék, for which in the following chapter, the English term ‘county’ will be used. They form the NUTS 3 1 level of the administrative system in Hungary. NUTS 1 is composed of three large regions. These territorial units are not used in public administration or planning, they exist practically only in the statistics of Eurostat. Seven regions form the NUTS 2 level. They were established as a result of the functional requirements of the European Union–especially for the implementation of programmes and projects funded by the structural and cohesion funds of the EU. Each region consists of three counties. The exception is the Central Hungary region, which comprises the capital, Budapest and Pest County, which completely surrounds the city. Counties are subdivided into sub-regions or small regions (NUTS 4). This level has a limited number of tasks in public administration. The lowest, municipal level is by far the most important sub-national tier. Municipalities have a wide range of autonomy and many functions. (For more details about sub-national tiers in Hungary, see Soós 2003; Soós and Kákai 2010.)