The European Union is launching an enquiry concerning the nostalgia railway line opened recently which connects Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s two childhood home villages west of Budapest after the project was reported by an opposition MEP to the EU’s anti-corruption body (OLAF).
photo: Attila Béres/MNO.hu
Following the report made by Benedek Jávor, an MEP for the opposition Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party, the EU, which funded 80 per cent of the project, is now set to investigate his argument that an estimate in the original funding application sugegsting that 2500-7000 passengers will use the line was unrealistic. In reality, however, only 30 passengers a day have been using the line, intended to be a tourist attraction, in the first month of operation, according to British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
“The Hungarian government intentionally reported false data, as it was crystal clear even at the time of submitting the application that the estimated numbers are totally absurd and unrealistic. This is cheating and fraud which should be investigated by EU bodies,” The Daily Telegraph quotes Mr. Jávor as saying.
The line, which is one of several much-criticised recent investments in the Prime Minister’s childhood environs, connects the village of Felcsút, Mr. Orbán’s childhood home where he maintains a residence, with the former Habsburg estate and arboretum at Alcsútdoboz, six kilometres to the south.
The narrow-gauge railway was inaugurated by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on 30 April 2016.
via mandiner.hu and telegraph.co.uk
photo: mno.hu
