From the 2026 budget audit
Why is a foundation for Hungarian-Polish cultural relations funded by every Hungarian taxpayer?
403 millió Ft for a state-financed foundation promoting bilateral cultural exchange — an activity that universities and civil-society bodies on both sides conduct without state subsidy.
Roughly 101 Ft per taxpayer per year — 403 millió Ft for a small foundation whose work universities and cultural organisations already do directly.
What you see — and what you don't
The seen: a foundation funding Hungarian-Polish historical and cultural exchange programmes. The unseen: the Polish and Hungarian academic institutions, cultural bodies, and civil-society organisations that conduct exactly this exchange voluntarily — and that do not need a dedicated state-financed intermediary to do so.
Objection
"Hungary-Poland cultural ties have special historical significance — a dedicated foundation honours that."
Answer
The significance is genuine. The question is why that significance requires a 403 millió Ft state-financed foundation when the same exchange happens through universities, the Polish and Hungarian cultural institutes, and civil-society bodies on both sides. Small size is not a defence — the principle scales: if the activity is valuable, it can be funded by those who value it.
Share if you think bilateral cultural exchange should not require a state-financed foundation to happen.
The analyst's verdict
Waclaw Felczak Foundation
Rationale
A state-funded foundation promoting Hungarian-Polish relations and historical-cultural exchange. Bilateral cultural and historical exchange is an activity that academic institutions, cultural bodies, and civil-society organisations on both sides conduct voluntarily; a dedicated state-financed foundation is a discretionary allocation, not a rights-protection function. The line is small, and small size is not a shield — the principle scales. Immediate Cut.
Transition mechanism
Close the foundation in the 2026 cycle; exchange activity it supported can continue through the universities and cultural bodies that conduct it directly.
Affected groups
A small foundation staff and the recipients of its grants; Hungarian-Polish academic and cultural exchange continues through the institutions that already perform it.
Free Society Institute
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