{"id":392846,"date":"2026-04-11T06:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T06:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/392846\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T06:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T06:16:10","slug":"a-1-5-million-roundabout-from-nowhere-to-nowhere-shows-the-orbanist-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/392846\/","title":{"rendered":"A $1.5 million roundabout from nowhere to nowhere shows the \u2018Orb\u00e1nist economy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zalaegerszeg, Hungary\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n The sign proudly announces that the roundabout near Zalaegerszeg in western Hungary was built with 500 million forints (about $1.5 million) of funds from the European Union.\n <\/p>\n

\n The roundabout was built to service a container terminal on a new railway line that would help provide this landlocked part of central Europe with better access to the sea. Rather than having to pass through Budapest, Hungary\u2019s capital, goods arriving from the Adriatic coast would transit quickly through the west of the country into Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and beyond.\n <\/p>\n

\n But there\u2019s a problem. Years after the roundabout was built, there\u2019s still no railway. Instead, the roundabout lies unused in a field, waiting for the Hungarian government to build the railway that would make it useful.\n <\/p>\n

\n Critics of Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n say EU-funded construction projects like these are a monument to the economic system his government has built over its 16 years in office. Orb\u00e1n\u2019s electoral success, they say, has combined relentlessly demonizing the EU \u2013 painting it as a decadent, liberal, corrupting force in Hungary \u2013 while happily accepting vast amounts of money from it.\n <\/p>\n

\n Much of that money came from initiatives intended to help the bloc\u2019s poorer, more recent members \u2013 many of which were once part of the Warsaw Pact \u2013 to catch up with their richer neighbors in the West. But, ahead of a pivotal parliamentary election Sunday, opponents are asking what Hungary has to show for all this investment, pointing to a string of what they cast as vanity projects, and unfinished or unnecessary construction projects.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n \u201cOrb\u00e1n was the ultimate rent-seeker in the 2010s of the European Union. That was a conscious strategy,\u201d Kriszti\u00e1n Orb\u00e1n (no relation), the founder of Oriens, an investment firm in the region, told CNN. He also highlighted the government\u2019s success in drawing down its allocated funding, by comparison with its neighbors, adding that Orb\u00e1n \u201cwas able to bring in a humongous amount of EU money.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The roundabout near Zalaegerszeg, first reported by the Hungarian investigative site Atlatszo<\/a>, is one of tens of thousands of projects in Hungary that have received EU funding since Viktor Orb\u00e1n came to power. Tibor Navracsis, the regional development minister, told Hungary\u2019s parliament last year that the EU had financed 52,000<\/a> projects in the country during the 2014-2020 budget period.\n <\/p>\n

\n Istv\u00e1n J\u00e1nos T\u00f3th, director of the Corruption Research Center Budapest, who is from Zalaegerszeg, said the roundabout was a prime example of a \u201cwhite elephant\u201d \u2013 a construction project that is expensive to build, and often to maintain, but which provides little value.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWithout the European funds, Orb\u00e1n couldn\u2019t have established this sort of system,\u201d T\u00f3th told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n Corruption watchdog Transparency International has ranked Hungary the most corrupt country in the EU. CNN has asked Hungary\u2019s foreign ministry and the prime minister\u2019s office for comment. The Hungarian government typically denies allegations of corruption or accuses its opponents of being corrupt themselves.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n Work on the roundabout began during the current EU budget period, which runs until 2027. Having purchased a patch of land, Metrans \u2013 a logistics company that operates in the region \u2013 was planning to build a container terminal to attach to the new railway, also scheduled for construction.\n <\/p>\n

\n At a ceremony<\/a> in 2021, Hungary\u2019s Foreign Minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 laid the foundation stone of the new terminal. By the end of 2023, the local municipality \u2013 with the help of EU funds \u2013 had built the roundabout that was to support logistics around the terminal, Zolt\u00e1n Balaicz, the mayor of Zalaegerszeg, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n But when CNN visited the site in April, there was no evidence that construction of the planned railway had begun. Balaicz said the project was still in the public procurement phase. Whoever wins the procurement contract will have more than two years to build the track, Atlatszo reported, meaning the railway \u2013 if built \u2013 may not be ready until 2029.\n <\/p>\n

\n The roundabout near Zalaegerszeg is not the only unfinished or unhelpful project in Hungary to have received EU funds. David Pressman, the former US ambassador to Hungary, said during his term that construction projects did not always live up to their billing.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cQuite a view from another of Hungary\u2019s EU-funded \u2018forest canopy walkways\u2019 in Hatvan,\u201d he wrote on social media in 2024, posting photos of himself standing on a walkway \u2013 with no forest in sight.\n <\/p>\n

\n Other examples, reported by Hungarian media, include a \u201clookout tower\u201d<\/a> which is meant to provide a viewpoint for tourists, but stands at less than a meter tall.\n <\/p>\n

\n Critics say that Hungary is dotted with such projects, often financed by the same institution Orb\u00e1n rails against.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cRather than grappling with an economy that has fallen apart, Orb\u00e1n points to marauding outside forces\u2026 who supposedly pose threats to Hungarians and Hungarianness,\u201d Pressman told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is much easier for the leader of the country ranked the most corrupt in the European Union to talk about \u2018civilizational struggles\u2019 than to explain the extraordinary wealth his family has accumulated while his people and his economy suffer,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The issue of EU funds is playing a significant role in campaigning for Sunday\u2019s parliamentary election.\n <\/p>\n

\n Since 2022, the European Commission has withheld funds to Hungary over concerns about its democratic backsliding and judicial independence. As of last year, around \u20ac18 billion ($21 billion) of funds remain blocked \u2013 representing around 10% of the country\u2019s GDP. Late last year, members of the European Parliament again raised concerns over Hungary\u2019s breaches of the rule of law, as well as corruption and \u201cmisuse of EU funds.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Kriszti\u00e1n Orb\u00e1n, the economist, said the stream of EU funds over the first decade of Orb\u00e1n\u2019s term meant \u201che was able to get away with a lot of things, including corruption, including disregard of public services, because he was able to ensure steadily improving livelihoods to people who were not used to that.\u201d Now those EU funds are blocked, that bargain is coming apart, he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Orb\u00e1n and his allies, including US Vice President JD Vance, who traveled to Budapest this week to endorse the prime minister, have accused the EU of interfering in Hungary\u2019s election over the bloc\u2019s withholding of funding. The Commission maintains that EU members must uphold the rule of law to receive funds.\n <\/p>\n

\"P\u00e9ter<\/p>\n

\n P\u00e9ter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party, has pledged to free up the EU payouts by allaying the bloc\u2019s concerns about Hungary\u2019s democratic backsliding. He has campaigned heavily against corruption, accusing Orb\u00e1n and his acolytes of enriching themselves while the country has grown poor. Still, Magyar would face a stiff challenge to meet the EU\u2019s demands and unlock some funding before an August 31 deadline.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tisza has held a double-digit lead over Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Fidesz party in most polls for more than a year. Although a victory for Magyar would spell the end of what corruption expert T\u00f3th described as Orb\u00e1n\u2019s \u201cbite-the-hand-that-feeds-you\u201d approach to the EU, Hungary will still require financial help from Brussels \u2013 including in Zalaegerszeg.\n <\/p>\n

\n Balaicz, the mayor, said that once the Hungarian government builds the planned railway, his municipality will then be able to build a second roundabout to aid logistics around the container terminal. That will cost another 954 million forints (about $3 million), he told CNN \u2013 also from an EU fund.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zalaegerszeg, Hungary\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 The sign proudly announces that the roundabout near Zalaegerszeg in western Hungary was built with 500…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-392846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}