Hungary pushes for Austria-Hungary motorway link amid Burgenland election talks

Completing a 10-kilometre link between Hungary’s M85 road and Austria’s A3 motorway is “of practical importance rather than a matter of party politics or ideology”, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said after talks with Norbert Hofer, regional election candidate of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) for Burgenland province, in Vienna on Wednesday.

Gulyás said the link was crucial for both countries, adding that the Hungarian government was seeking “allies in potential partners such as FPÖ and the regional government”. According to Gulyás, Hungary has completed M85 up to the Austrian border but “for reasons that are difficult to explain the Austrian side stopped construction at Eisenstadt and invariably citing environmental arguments they would not go on constructing the link despite earlier pledges by the incumbent regional leadership.”

Gulyás said he trusted that “whoever is in power after Sunday’s election in Burgenlad will see how important the missing link is for the Sopron region in Hungary as well as for Burgenland.” Gulyás welcomed that FPÖ won the national elections in Austria last September and was eventually requested to form Austria’s next government. He said he hoped Austria would soon have a stable FPÖ-ÖVP (Austrian People’s Party) to join Europe’s sovereigntist governments. Hofer said the road link would be “of European importance” and could reduce the traffic in small settlements on either side of the Austria-Hungary border. “Reduced traffic could improve the quality of life, and promote mobility and economic ties,” he added.

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Featured image: illustration, depositphotos.com

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