Hungary

The Prime Minister’s Office has filed a report on suspicion of budget fraud and mismanagement at the Center for Fundamental Rights, which received 410 million forints for activities related to Brussels without a tender. Its leaders allegedly used nearly half the sum to pay their own salaries, which reached 1.5 million forints a month. Meanwhile, new details suggest the National Cultural Fund reserve of 10 billion forints was only released after the government assessed its own political resource needs.

Internal critiques are proving expensive. Two research projects commissioned from the Századvég institute at a cost of one billion forints concluded that the government’s own policies provided the fewest reasons for national pride; the researchers also managed to overlook the Facebook page of the main opposition leader in their social media analysis. In the cabinet's peripheral circles, former Economy Minister Márton Nagy has reportedly relocated to Switzerland to work for a Zurich bank, while former Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó faces a national security committee hearing over his role at a Chinese carmaker.

The agricultural ministry's legacy is also under scrutiny following allegations it managed game populations to benefit a crony hunting business. A new hunting firm has been registered at an address linked to the family of Lőrinc Mészáros, while a company owned by the Prime Minister’s brother has begun selling hunting experience packages named after characters from fairy tales.