The Weekly Winner: These projects got EU funding in Hungary this week

The Hungarian government is turning up the volume on spectacular developments in the run-up to the elections – this is what we saw when we looked at what projects were given money from EU funds on the 48th week of this year. Lots of money for beautifying cities and castles, much less for employment or healthcare.

In June Atlatszo released the second interactive map that shows how the Hungarian government is spending European Union funds. This latest interactive map visualizes projects and payments of the Széchenyi 2020 programme, between 2015 and 2017. Every week, up until the end of the programme, we will update the map with the latest payments. You can now browse through the data, look up your own town or village and see who received EU funds in the area.

Based on this data we are starting The Weekly Winner: from today we will summarize who got the most EU funds every week. This is The Weekly Winner for the 48th week of 2017.

• The Hungarian government itself is going to try and address the labor crisis of the country. Government-owned National Employment Company for Public Utility (Országos Foglalkoztatási Közhasznú Nkft., OFA) got €10 million (HUF3 billion) to help match the unemployed with employers looking for talent. OFA will create a system that provides HR services and it will employ advisors who will be equipped with a laptop computer and travel across the country. OFA will also create a job seeking website and call center and also organize events, workshops and courses. One of OFA’s aims is to have 75 employers join its Responsible Employer Union.

• The town of Miskolc is getting HUF 4.2 billion for the development of its downtown area, Miskolc-Tapolca and the Avas area that is facing many social problems. Another town, Szekszárd got HUF 1.3 billion for development. Both towns were awarded the money in the framework of the Modern Cities Program, a favorite phrase of Fidesz politicians traveling around the country and making promises. Most of the time they do not mention that it is financed by EU funds.

• The Alliance of Hungarian Hikers (Magyar Természetjáró Szövetség) got more than HUF 1.5 billion for four different projects. The Alliance is led by businessman István Garancsi, who has close ties to the government. The money will pay for tourism development in four areas of the country: Somogy, Alpokalja, Bakony and Dunakanyar. If you look at the database, you will see that three out of the four projects are administered by the national forestry company, but it is important to note that the Alliance is a compulsory partner in the consortium, that is, there will be no money for any development without them.

• Even though there were major problems with the Nyíregyháza-Sóstó are projects, it is getting money again: this week two projects got HUF 1.2 billion combined. HUF 688 million goes to the Museum Village in Sóstó. HUF 300 million will be used for creating a path and ecological study walk and HUF 220 million will go to the spa.

• The national project of castle reconstructions, funded by the EU, is going on as well: HUF 1.6 billion was given for the reconstruction and touristic development of the fort in Szigetvár and the Benczúr Castle in Szécsény.

• A total of HUF 1.2 billion was awarded to municipalities across the country to strengthen local identities. In Hódmezővásárhely, for example, HUF 150 million will be spent on preserving local history.  

• HUF 4.8 billion was awarded for the development of the M6 motorway between Bóly and the border, on a 20 kilometer long stretch.

Written by András Becker

You can read the original, Hungarian-language story here.

 

The source of the data is the government website palyazat.gov.hu.

You can search or download the database at adat.atlatszo.hu/szechenyi2020/

The map is available at adat.atlatszo.hu/eu-terkep/szechenyi

Our stories that uncovered irregularities can be found here.

Database by Mihály Orsós

Map and visualisation by Balázs Krich

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