Prime Minister Péter Magyar has delivered a sharp response to billionaire Lőrinc Mészáros after the company behind a controversial 35-year motorway concession signalled that it could pursue legal claims over the government’s plan to end the agreement. The latest exchange comes just a day after Budapest announced steps to terminate the contract, whose estimated payments over its lifetime exceed HUF 23 trillion (approximately EUR 64 billion).
“Mészáros and his associates are already threatening us with lawyers,” Magyar wrote in a recent Facebook post, referring to the government’s decision to end the motorway concession awarded under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The prime minister then delivered a personal message to Mészáros, one of Hungary’s wealthiest businessmen and a longtime associate of the former leader.
“I think Viktor Orbán’s front man is misjudging the situation as he washes down French champagne bought with our money with a can of coffee,” Magyar wrote.
The remarks followed a legal warning from MKIF, the motorway operator associated with Mészáros and fellow businessman László Szíjj. The company has reserved its contractual rights and potential claims in response to the government’s plans, although it has not announced that it has filed a lawsuit.
Magyar illustrates the scale of the HUF 23 trillion motorway deal
In his lengthy Facebook statement, the prime minister used a series of comparisons to illustrate the enormous sum involved in the concession.
According to Magyar, stacking the amount in HUF 20,000 banknotes would produce a column approximately 138 kilometres high, around 15 times the height of Mount Everest. He also claimed that spending HUF 1 million every day would take approximately 63,000 years to exhaust the sum.
Magyar accused the previous government of using the agreement to channel public money towards politically connected business interests. These allegations reflect the prime minister’s position and have not been established by a court.
He ended his post with a personal remark addressed to Mészáros’s wife, television personality Andrea Várkonyi, asking her to read the message to her husband.
Motorway operator raises legal concerns over contract termination
The latest exchange comes after the government announced on Friday that it would seek to end MKIF’s motorway concession.
As we previously reported, the agreement was signed under the Orbán administration in 2022 and is scheduled to run until 2057. It covers the operation, maintenance and development of a substantial part of Hungary’s motorway network.
According to the government’s calculations, the total value of payments under the concession could reach approximately HUF 23.2 trillion over its full duration. This is an estimated long-term contract value, not an amount already paid to MKIF or a guaranteed saving from termination.
However, a separate letter signed by chief executive Tamás Németh, subsequently published in part by Transport and Investment Minister Dávid Vitézy, warned that government statements questioning the agreement’s validity could negatively affect the company’s financing arrangements.
The letter also stated that the concession holders expressly reserved their rights and potential claims under the contract and applicable legislation.
While this leaves open the possibility of legal proceedings, the company has not announced that it has taken the government to court.
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Transport minister responds: “They can say goodbye to the HUF 23 trillion”
Vitézy also addressed the company’s letter in a Facebook post, dismissing its legal arguments and reaffirming the government’s intention to end the concession.
“Forced legal arguments and feeble threats – that’s all Mészáros’s motorway concessionaire could come up with,” the minister wrote.
He stressed that the government’s position would remain unchanged regardless of whether MKIF pursued legal action or cooperated in reaching a settlement.
“They can say goodbye to the HUF 23 trillion. It’s over,” Vitézy declared.
The minister has previously said the government would prefer to negotiate an agreement rather than become involved in years of litigation.
What happens to Hungary’s motorways now?
The government wants to end MKIF’s 35-year motorway concession and return responsibility for much of Hungary’s motorway network to state-owned Magyar Közút, ideally by 31 December 2026.
But ending the agreement will require more than a political decision. MKIF would need to hand back the equipment, vehicles and maintenance facilities transferred to it when the concession began in 2022. The company has also reserved its contractual rights, raising the possibility of a legal dispute.
Transport Minister Dávid Vitézy has said the government would prefer a negotiated settlement to years of litigation. For now, the concession remains in force, and neither the terms of its termination nor its potential financial consequences have been settled.
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Featured image: Facebook/Forsthoffer Ágnes
