Grants for Luxury

In the first part of our series, we examined the most intriguing investment opportunity: a company owned by Attila Balázs, one of the emerging Orbán oligarchs, received 2.4 billion forints (7.5 million euros) to construct a six-star luxury hotel. The hotel is being built in Gyergyóremete/Remetea, a village in Harghita County where there is hardly any tourism. Even on the Booking.com accommodation portal, there are only two places: a small pension and an apartment for rent.

The luxury hotel will be run (and subsidised) by a company that primarily produces beef semen and breeds bulls. A private airstrip has already been built next to the hotel for the exclusive use of the oligarch. Although the hotel was scheduled for completion at the end of 2022 according to the grant application, it is still far from finished. It seems likely that the entire project was designed to provide a place for the Orbán regime's wealthy supporters to hide from the world.