Orbán government loses billions in EU funding

The Orbán government would rather let HUF 289 billion (EUR 743.7 million) of EU funding go to waste than spend it on the development of the HÉV (Budapest Railway of Local Interest) and the capital city. The capital project is already named in the RRF (Recovery and Resilience Facility) plan, so the money cannot be spent on anything else.

The Orbán government is risking losing billions of EU funds

The Hungarian state stands to lose many times more than the HUF 1.1 billion (EUR 2.8 million) EU subsidy it received for the planning of the Nyugati railway station, Népszava reports. The state could lose the EU funding because of the stalled HÉV project.

The Hungarian plan to use the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Instrument (RRF) includes a HUF 289 billion (EUR 743.7 million) project, with 100 percent funding, to modernise and expand the capacity of 56 kilometres of HÉV lines in and around Budapest, rtl.hu writes.

The fund can only be used for projects that will be completed by August 2026. Népszava understands that the recovery plan had already identified completing the transport projects by the deadline set by the EU regulation as a “significant challenge”. On top of that, the project has effectively stalled.

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The project has been stalled for eight months

They note that the procurement of the vehicles is particularly time-consuming. That is becaue they need to find custom-designed cars that can be operated as commuter trains and metro trains, and that would fit into the future tunnel under Kálvin Square in Budapest.

After the new government came into power, the supervision of investments was given to János Lázár. Lázár made it clear that he would spend state and EU funds on rural projects. The development of the Szentendre, Ráckeve, Gödöllő and Csepel HÉV lines became a priority public investment last August, with a government decision to spend HUF 830 million (EUR 2.1 million) on the track renewal.

Despite this, people interviewed by Népszava mutually confirmed that the project has been stalled for eight months. However, the capital project is already named in the RRF plan, so the money cannot be spent on anything else.

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The project could not be concluded before 2028 anyway

Earlier, Dávid Vitézy told Népszava that the supply problems in the automotive industry are also affecting rail vehicle manufacturers, so production times have stretched to 5-6 years. In comparison, in the spring of 2021 – allegedly under Russian pressure – the HÉV vehicle tender announced by MÁV was declared ineffective and no new one has been announced since. Even if the tender were to be launched this year and successfully concluded, the new trains would not arrive before 2028.

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Source: nepszava.hu, rtl.hu