The Profiteers of the Hungarian-Romanian Border Area

A team of three Hungarian journalists, based in both Hungary and Romania, investigated the story behind these useless roads.

The roadworks were initiated as part of the Hungary-Romania Cross-Border Cooperation Programme (2007–2013). Low estimates put the cost of the roadworks at 23 million euros. Other sources estimate the final cost to be as high as 55 million euros.

The reason for the blocked roads is simple. Romania is not yet a member of the Schengen Area. This means that border checkpoints must be installed at any crossing point between Romania and Hungary. However, this is often delayed because the authorities in Bucharest have failed to propose a solution.

As well as examining the roads, the journalists investigated the construction and communication tenders for projects financed through the HURO programme. They focused on these two areas because past experience has shown that dodgy deals and cases of supposed corruption are most likely to occur there.

The team sifted through more than 300 public procurements, submitted freedom of information requests to 40 public authorities, and conducted background interviews with politicians, businesspeople, and experts familiar with the programme.

They investigated how a company with no experience in the media sector, but with close ties to local politicians, won and implemented a comprehensive and costly cross-border communication strategy. The team also wrote about an unknown company which, since 2010, has secured one successful public sector contract after another in the water management sector. This success has been facilitated by an almost total lack of competition, achieved by splitting contracts just below the threshold requiring a tendering process.

Photos © Zoltán Sipos