Scandalous Tram Procurement: Budapest Mayor and the Left Provided Brussels with Ammunition to Block EU Funds

Once again, the failure of a key investment is hindering improvements to Budapest’s struggling public transport system. Despite the arrival of new trams purchased with government support, the infrastructure development required to put them into service cannot begin, because the funds earmarked for this purpose are part of the recovery fund currently blocked by Brussels. Meanwhile, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony has continued his long-standing policy in Strasbourg, contributing to the so-called rule-of-law proceedings and the freezing of EU funds Hungary is entitled to.

Source: Facebook/Gergely Karacsony

While Gergely Karacsony enjoyed being praised in the European Parliament  on Wednesday for staging the Pride event, another important investment has stalled in Budapest because of the freezing of EU funds, largely due to the left-wing political agenda the mayor of Budapest has also been pushing.

New Trams, Missing Infrastructure

This time, it has come to light that despite the arrival of 51 modern, low-floor, air-conditioned CAF trams in the capital, there is no money for the infrastructure projects needed to put the vehicles into service, because citing alleged rule of law issues, the European Commission has been withholding EU funds for Hungary from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) for years. The new trams are wider than the previous ones and do not fit on certain tracks and in some depots.

The purchase of the vehicles is part of the Budapest Transport Center's (BKK) tram development program for 2030, which includes comprehensive objectives for modernizing the vehicle fleet, expanding the network, and making stops accessible to people with disabilities, Gergely Karacsony himself posted on social media. At the same time, he refuted press reports that the capital was unprepared for the arrival of the new trams, as neither certain sections of the network nor the depots were suitable for putting the CAF vehicles into service. The mayor argued that "infrastructure developments, including track improvements and depot upgrades, were included in the RRF recovery plan, with a total of 96.4 billion forints in funding. Based on this, BKK prepared the necessary developments in close cooperation with BKV and the city."

Planned, But the EU Funds Are Not Coming

David Vitezy, leader of the Podmaniczky Movement's group in the Budapest municipal assembly, also addressed the issue on his social media, arguing that

the lack of infrastructure is not due to professional error, but rather to political and financial reasons. 

"The funds planned from the recovery fund have not been released for Hungary due to the rule-of-law disputes. Although the government will eventually cover the cost of the vehicles from other EU sources, there is no funding for the associated infrastructure developments, or even if there is, the European Commission has frozen it," Vitezy pointed out.

This brings us back to the point we made at the beginning of this article: the European Commission is punishing Hungary by freezing EU funds the country is entitled to, largely due to the intervention of prominent figures on the Hungarian Left, including none other than Gergely Karacsony.

Efforts to Bypass the Government

Just recently, the mayor of Budapest was in talks with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and on Wednesday held a press conference in Strasbourg at the invitation of the Greens' EP group, where he disclosed that he had proposed to EU decision-makers the creation of mechanisms that would allow businesses, municipalities, and civil society organizations to directly access EU funds. In this way, as he put it, the "punishment" would hit the national governments, not local actors.

Karacsony even received a round of applause in the European Parliament, Alexandra Szentkiralyi, leader of Fidesz’s group in the Budapest city assembly, highlighted in a social media post. "Of course, it wasn’t for his excellent city management, the endless traffic jams, or bankrupting the capital, but because he was willing to organize a Pride parade in front of children—on the orders of his political backers, using Budapest taxpayers' money,"

 she wrote.

Spreading Lies About Hungary for Years

"Gergely Karacsony directly contributed to Hungary not receiving the EU funds it is entitled to,"

Tamas Deutsch, MEP of Fidesz, told MTI in Strasbourg on Wednesday. He recalled that throughout his long career in opposition politics, the mayor had consistently worked to "spread the most blatant lies about Hungary in the world." Deutsch pointed out that these claims served as a basis for the so called rule of law procedures and later for freezing the funds due to Hungary."What Gergely Karacsony and his allies did directly contributed to Hungary being stripped of resources," he emphasized.

Lobbying Against Hungary

The MEP of Fidesz also pointed out that the Budapest municipality maintains a lobbying office in Brussels, which is funded with public money from the capital’s taxpayers and headed by Benedek Javor, a former opposition politician. "The explicit purpose of this office is to lobby Brussels decision-makers against Hungary and Hungarian national interests," Deutsch said. He noted that Benedek Javor runs the office with a salary equivalent to that of an MEP, while not working to obtain resources for Budapest, but rather "working to take as much money away from Hungary as possible."

Therefore, Gergely Karacsony can be considered the primary person responsible for the failure to carry out the infrastructure developments needed for the new trams not only in his capacity as mayor, but also because of his important role in the withholding of EU funds.