The sign proudly announces that the roundabout near Zalaegerszeg in western Hungary was built with 500 million forints (about $1.5 million) in funds from the European Union.
The roundabout was built to serve a container terminal on a new railway line that would provide the landlocked region of Central Europe with better access to the sea. Instead of having to go through Budapest, Hungary’s capital, goods coming from the Adriatic coast will quickly pass through the west of the country to Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and beyond.
But there’s a problem. Years after the roundabout was built, there was still no railway. Instead, the roundabout sits in an unused field, waiting for the Hungarian government to build a railway line to make it useful.
Critics of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán say EU-funded construction projects like this one are a monument to the economic system his government has built during its 16 years in power. Orbán’s electoral success, they say, has combined relentlessly demonizing the EU – portraying it as a decadent, liberal, corrupt force in Hungary – while happily accepting huge sums of money from the EU.
Much of that money comes from initiatives aimed at helping the bloc’s new, poorer members – many of which were once part of the Warsaw Pact – catch up with their wealthier neighbors in the West. However, ahead of a crucial parliamentary election on Sunday, opponents are questioning what Hungary has to show for all this investment, pointing to a series of what they see as vanity projects and unfinished or unnecessary construction projects.
A sign next to the roundabout announced that it was built with 503.37 million forints (about 1.5 million USD) in EU funds. – Mark Esplin/CNN
“Orbán was the ultimate profiteer of the 2010s in the European Union. It was a conscious strategy,” Krisztián Orbán (no relation), founder of Oriens, a regional investment firm, told CNN. He also highlighted the government’s success in drawing down allocated funding, compared to neighboring countries, adding that Orbán “can bring in huge amounts of EU money”.
The roundabout near Zalaegerszeg, first reported by Hungarian investigative site Atlaszo, is one of tens of thousands of projects in Hungary to receive EU funding since Viktor Orbán came to power. Tibor Navracsis, Minister of Regional Development, told the Hungarian parliament last year that the EU funded 52,000 projects in the country during the 2014-2020 budget period.
István János Tóth, director of the Budapest Corruption Research Center, from Zalaegerszeg, said the roundabout is a classic example of a “white elephant” – a construction project that is expensive to build and often requires maintenance but provides little value.
“Without European funding, Orbán could not have set up this type of system,” Tóth told CNN.
Corruption watchdog Transparency International has ranked Hungary as the most corrupt country in the EU. CNN has asked Hungary’s Foreign Ministry and the prime minister’s office for comment. The Hungarian government often denies corruption allegations or accuses its opponents of being corrupt as well.
The railway line that would make the roundabout useful may not be built until 2029, Atlaszo reported. – Mark Esplin/CNN
Work on the roundabout begins during the current EU budget period, which runs until 2027. Having acquired a piece of land, Metrans – a logistics company operating in the region – is planning to build a container terminal to attach to the new railway line, which is also planned for construction.
At a ceremony in 2021, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó laid the foundation stone for the new terminal. By the end of 2023, local authorities – with the support of EU funds – had built a roundabout to support logistics around the station, Zoltán Balaicz, mayor of Zalaegerszeg, told CNN.
But when CNN visited the site in April, there was no evidence that construction on the planned railway had begun. Balaicz said the project is still in the public procurement phase. Whoever wins the procurement contract will have more than two years to build the tracks, meaning the railway – if built – may not be ready until 2029, Atlaszo reported.
The roundabout near Zalaegerszeg is not the only unfinished or useless project in Hungary to receive EU funds. David Pressman, former US ambassador to Hungary, said during his tenure that construction projects did not always meet their goals.
“A pretty nice view from a Hungarian EU-funded ‘forest canopy walkway’ in Hatvan,” he wrote on social media in 2024, posting photos of himself standing on the walkway – with no forest in sight.
Other examples, reported by Hungarian media, include an “observation tower” that is intended to provide views for tourists but is less than a meter high.
Critics say Hungary has many such projects, often funded by the same organizations that Orbán opposes.
“Instead of grappling with a collapsed economy, Orbán points to marauding outside forces… who supposedly pose a threat to Hungarians and Hungarians,” Pressman told CNN.
“It is much easier for the leader of the country ranked most corrupt in the European Union to talk about ‘civilizational struggles’ than to explain the extraordinary wealth his family has amassed while his people and economy have suffered,” he said.
Declaration of ‘intervention’
The issue of EU funds is playing a key role in the campaigning for Sunday’s parliamentary election.
Since 2022, the European Commission has refused to fund Hungary over concerns about the country’s democratic backsliding and judicial independence. As of last year, about 18 billion euros ($21 billion) of money remained frozen – about 10% of the country’s GDP. Late last year, members of the European Parliament again raised concerns about Hungary’s violation of the rule of law, as well as corruption and “misuse of EU funds.”
Krisztián Orbán, the economist, said the flow of EU money in the first decade of Orbán’s term meant “he could get away with a lot of things, including corruption, including the disregard for public services, because he could guarantee steady improvements in livelihoods for people who were not used to that.” Now that EU funds have been frozen, that bargain is falling apart, he said.
Orbán 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 meddling in Hungary’s election because the bloc refused to fund it. The Commission insists that EU members must uphold the rule of law to receive the funds.
Péter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza party, has campaigned strongly against corruption. – Marton Monus/Reuters
Péter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza party, has pledged to free up EU payments by allaying the bloc’s concerns about Hungary’s democratic backsliding. He has campaigned strongly against corruption, accusing Orbán and his cronies of enriching themselves while the country gets poorer. However, Magyar will face a tough challenge in meeting EU demands and mobilizing some funding before the August 31 deadline.
Tisza has led Orbán’s Fidesz party by double digits in most polls for more than a year. Although a victory for Magyar would put an end to what corruption expert Tóth describes as Orbán’s “tit-for-tat” approach to the EU, Hungary will still need financial help from Brussels – including in Zalaegerszeg.
Mayor Balaicz said that once the Hungarian government builds the railway line as planned, his municipality will be able to build a second roundabout to support logistics around the container terminal. He told CNN that would cost another 954 million forints (about $3 million), also from an EU fund.
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