A $1.5 million roundabout from nowhere to nowhere shows the ‘Orbánist economy’ | CNN
A $1.5 million roundabout from nowhere to nowhere shows the ‘Orbánist economy’ | CNN
A $1.5 million roundabout from nowhere to nowhere shows the ‘Orbánist economy’ | CNN
Ahead of a pivotal parliamentary election Sunday, opponents ask what Hungary has to show for vast sums of European Union funding brought in under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The sign proudly announces that the roundabout near Zalaegerszeg in western Hungary was built with 500 million forints (about $1.5 million) of funds from the European Union.
The roundabout was built to service a container terminal on a new railway line that would help provide this landlocked part of central Europe with better access to the sea. Rather than having to pass through Budapest, Hungary’s capital, goods arriving from the Adriatic coast would transit quickly through the west of the country into Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and beyond.
But there’s a problem. Years after the roundabout was built, there’s still no railway. Instead, the roundabout lies unused in a field, waiting for the Hungarian government to build the railway that would make it useful.
Critics of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán say EU-funded construction projects like these are a monument to the economic system his government has built over its 16 years in office. Orbán’s electoral success, they say, has combined relentlessly demonizing the EU – painting it as a decadent, liberal, corrupting force in Hungary – while happily accepting vast amounts of money from it.