How public funds meant to support culture ended up in the hands of Fidesz-affiliated circles

Ever since Fidesz lost the Hungarian election on 12 April, the disintegration of the system the four consecutive Orbán administrations spent sixteen years building has been happening before an entire country's eyes. There’s been a new scandal or resignation practically every day, with people from various state institutions speaking out about things that went on behind the scenes.

One of the hottest topics has been the story surrounding the National Cultural Fund (Nemzeti Kulturális Alap-NKA).

This is one of the most important state-funded institutions supporting Hungarian arts and culture. It was established in 1993 on the initiative of architect György Fekete, who later became one of the chief cultural ideologues of the Orbán governments and also served as the institution’s first president. According to the general opinion of the arts community, although in principle, the NKA is a well-designed system; the distribution of its grants has in many cases been managed by the various administrations in an extremely distorted and disproportionate manner, and has been mostly based on ideological considerations and political loyalty. This was particularly true of the most recent Orbán government.

The gist of the current scandal was summarized by a former member of the NKA’s board of trustees in a public post. According to him, during the recent election campaign, the National Cultural Fund

“gave undeserving people large sums of money they had not deserved, mostly for nonsensical projects”,

amounting to a total of 17 billion forints (more than 47,6 million euros). Although some of the items were worthwhile cultural programs, the pattern of the approved grants suggests that a significant portion of the distributed funds was used to further Fidesz's interests in the election. Additionally, the shortcomings and suspicious activities surrounding the approval process were so serious that the Deputy Director General of the institution’s grant-administering body (Nemzeti Kulturális Támogatáskezelő-NKTK), Irén Szántai ended up filing a complaint in the matter.

According to the complaint, it was at the personal instruction of Director General Anikó Krucsainé Herter that the 17 billion forints in funding were allocated based on individual applications without the inclusion of those responsible for certain professional fields.

Furthermore, staff members were instructed to process the applications “based on specific directives, in an expedited manner”—at least according to the Deputy Director General. She claims that the director also asked them to "turn a blind eye" to the shortcomings in some of the applications, which did not even meet the minimum submission requirements. They were instructed to rewrite them as “community building/cultural programs”. Additionally, in many cases, it was the ministry itself that approached some of the applicants and encouraged them to submit applications, which is a rather unusual practice.

In an interview with Index, Mrs. Krucsai stated that (now outgoing) Minister of Culture and Innovation Balázs Hankó and Deputy Chairman of the NKA Balázs Bús were the ones who had decided to create a three-member committee to distribute the 17 billion forints, for which they had received approval from the Minister of National Economy, Márton Nagy.

Since the scandal broke two weeks ago, four people have submitted their resignations —Deputy Director Balázs Bús and three committee members. They claim that they were not only unaware of the payments, but had actually been "duped." According to them, they too were shocked by the list of winning applicants and the amounts awarded; theatre director Attila Vidnyánszky put it bluntly:

“My jaw dropped when I saw how much money had been awarded and who the recipients were.”

In fact, the committee had approved a different report on April 23 and they had never seen the 34-page NKA document which was later posted on the institution’s website.

How did the story break?

It all started on 23 April, when actor and activist Áron Molnár reported that a state agency had transferred a total of 17 billions of forints to those in the economic, public and art sector who have openly supported Fidesz. The list, which was subsequently posted on the NKA website indeed included

• a significant number of artists who had performed at Fidesz’s campaign events or have stood by the party in some other way.
• many organizations which have very little to do with culture. According to 444, these include hunting clubs and sports clubs and even associations of car mechanics, as well as darts clubs and fishing associations. These often had no detectable activities other than their names turning up in connection with various public events (including a cooking- or eating competition) during the campaign alongside Fidesz politicians.
• An anti-corruption organization, K-monitor found several examples of funds having been approved based on electoral districts, which makes no sense at all in the case of cultural programs. One of the districts in question is the one of Balázs Hankó, the outgoing Minister of Culture and Innovation himself, who is set to represent Fidesz in the soon-to-be-formed parliament. The district of former government spokesperson Eszter Vitályos, who is also slated to serve as an MP for the next four years was also given money.
• There were cases where the amount awarded for organizing a single concert was double or triple the budget needed for a show at the country’s most expensive venue with the best equipment available.
• In many cases, the artistic value of the individual’s achievements or the task in question did not justify the size of the awarded amount.
• An unusually large sum—500 million HUF (1,4 million euros)—was awarded to a company founded in February 2026 and registered under the name of the official photographer of Fidesz’s favoured violinist, Zoltán Mága. (In comparison: all the independent theatres in Budapest received a total of 533 million forints in 2025.)
• A company owned by an employee of the outgoing Fidesz faction, Dávid Zsolt Párkai was awarded 450 million HUF (1,2 million euros). It was at Párkai's apartment that the fugitive former Polish Deputy Justice Minister, wanted on corruption charges was recently found to have been living in.

When confronted about all of this on television, Balázs Hankó said that “cultural decisions are a matter of taste” and explained that they followed the principle that “when it comes to cultural decisions, supporting those who value patriotism, a life-affirming attitude and traditions” is a fundamental consideration.

Just two days after the NKA’s decisions were made public, the Association of Independent Performing Artists filed a complaint against an unknown perpetrator on suspicion of embezzlement and budgetary fraud. As mentioned above, Irén Szántai, the Deputy Director General of the NKTK also filed a complaint with the Central Investigative Prosecutor’s Office due to reasonable suspicion of embezzlement and budgetary fraud. Additionally, the right-wing cultural body called the Hungarian Academy of Arts (Magyar Művészeti Akadélmia-MMA) requested information from the head of the NKTK about the situation.

Incoming Minister of Culture Zoltán Tarr said an immediate and comprehensive investigation needs to be launched, as the issue is no longer just that outgoing minister Balázs Hankó distributed hundreds of millions of forints by bypassing the NKA’s professional boards, but there is also suspicion of covert campaign financing. Prime minister-elect Péter Magyar promised that the National Cultural Fund’s grant applications would be investigated and, if necessary, criminal charges would be filed.