New ministry asks Atlatszo who had provided data on the overpriced toy motorcycles

Hungary’s new Ministry of Social and Family Affairs has asked us where it obtained detailed information about thousands of toy motorbikes purchased by the previous Fidesz government – even though the ministry itself had supplied the data only two months earlier in response to a freedom of information request.

We reported in June that the former Ministry of Culture and Innovation had purchased 12,000 plastic toy motorbikes from companies owned by Gyula Balásy, a government-linked known for producing the previous Fidesz government’s propaganda materials. The ministry paid 185.3 million HUFs (509,240 EUR) net for the toys, with another 3 million HUFs (8,245 EUR) spent on stickers with the “Family Friendly Hungary” branding. This meant the state paid approximately 15,441 HUFs (42 EUR) per toy, more than three times the roughly 5,000 HUFs (14 EUR) retail price.

The motorbikes began appearing in kindergartens in November 2025,

where they were typically delivered by local Fidesz MPs or parliamentary candidates during the run-up to the election.

The former ministry initially refused to provide meaningful details about the program. Atlatszo therefore complained to Hungary’s data protection and freedom of information authority. Following the change of government, the ministry’s successor eventually released the requested information in early June 2026.

The documents also revealed how the toys were distributed around the country. Pest County received the largest number, with 1,611 motorbikes, followed by Borsod with 664 and Szabolcs with 653, while Nógrád received only 141. Some nurseries received just one or two vehicles, while larger towns and cities were given dozens or even hundreds.

Shortly after Atlatszo published the figures, Social and Family Affairs Minister Vilmos Kátai-Németh filed a criminal complaint over suspected mismanagement of public funds. Police subsequently launched an investigation against an unknown perpetrator. The National Bureau of Investigation has now confirmed that the criminal proceedings are still ongoing but declined to disclose further details.

The story took an unusual turn on 12 August, when

the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs contacted us asking who had provided the distribution data, saying officials at the ministry had not previously seen it.

We replied that the information had arrived from the former ministry’s public-data email address in response to its original freedom of information request, but the message had been signed in the name of the new ministry.

The ministry suggested that the confusion may have resulted from the change of administration. The former Ministry of Culture and Innovation was split into three new ministries, while responsibility for kindergartens was transferred to the Ministry of Education and Child Affairs rather than the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs. Officials said that during the transitional period, the former ministry’s legal department was still processing information requests and may have used the new ministry’s name before the new administrative structure was fully operational.