Asian guest workers flood Hungary but Chinese, Korean plants may never start operation

guest workers from india hajdúnánás
PrtScr/ATVnews

Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians work in Western European countries for higher wages. Therefore, 60-80 thousand people are missing from Hungary’s labour market. As a result, the government made it easy to import Asian workforce to Hungary, but the Chinese plants those people come to may never start operation due to the significant problems of the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV). Meanwhile, the liberal leadership of Budapest seems to veto the employment of Phillippine bus drivers in the capital.

Guest workers coming to Hungary in large numbers

According to a Philippine newspaper, Hungary is “opening its doors to more than 6,000 factory and skilled workers in the Philippines”. That comes after almost 4 thousand Filipino workers came to Hungary in 2022. According to G7, the Hungarian government granted a shortcut for the employment of Filipino workers and protection for them. During the summer, news appeared about the planned employment of 10 thousand Phillippine workers.

Before, the Hungarian government was negotiating with Vietnam about attracting local workers to Hungary. The new workforce is needed for the new battery manufacturing plants the Chinese and South Koreans plan to build. The government supports that scheme because it believes the future lies in the e-cars, and despite an almost decade-long anti-migration campaign, they help foreigners to come to Hungary to work. Only the new CATL plant in Debrecen will need 9,000 employees from the beginning of 2025.

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Hungarian state railway network unsuitable for such capacities

However, there might be a problem with the new battery plants. According to hvg.hu, the Hungarian railway infrastructure did not follow the grandiose development plans. In contrast, MÁV’s railway network has been deteriorating for decades. That is why the government ordered the rapid renovation of a segment of the Vienna-Budapest line. However, all lines are devastated and overcrowded, so the new plants will not be able to transport goods easily. When the government attracted the investments to Hungary, that viewpoint was mitigated, but now it emerges with an overwhelming power.

Transport is essential for such investments. The raw material comes from Koper, Triest, Rijeka, Hamburg or Ukraine, while the products would also leave Hungary on the train. However, the Belgrade-Budapest train line project stopped because the Chinese and Hungarian companies could not build it properly, following the EU’s directives. Moreover, due to soaring inflation, costs grew sky-high, and the budget is empty. Therefore, the Chinese are worried about how they will transport goods. As a result, PM Orbán travels to Beijing to settle things with Xi Jinping.

Not everybody is happy because of the guest workers coming from Asia. RTL Klub asked locals in Hajdúszoboszló who said they were afraid of the Asian people, and the guest workers told the news outlet the same. Meanwhile, Arriva Bus, a German subcontractor providing drivers for Budapest’s transport company, BKV, said they would like to employ 20 Phillippines from 2024. However, the leadership of Budapest became outraged, and Deputy Mayor Ambrus Kiss said they would not allow the employment of Far Eastern drivers because allowing communication between the drivers and their passengers is crucial.

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