Eurobarometer released their latest corruption dataset. Hungary is on the top within EU in its tolerance to it.

Tolerance to corruption. Source: Eurobarometer report 2020

69% of EU citizens consider corruption unacceptable, with the rejection rate highest in Portugal (88%) and lowest in Hungary (38%). 57% of Hungarians think it has increased over the past three years, according to the recent survey of Eurobarometer released in June 2020.

Source: Eurobarometer report 2020

Corruption (defined as the abuse of power for private gain) has been deemed “unacceptable” by 69% of Europeans, but only 38% of Hungarians think so.

The most sickening form of corruption is bribes paid for medical attention in state-financed health systems, such as Hungary. The problem is incredibly widespread, some doctors even have their official lists of expected “gratitude money” by type of medical attention, to avoid disappointingly low bribes. Since doctors are scarce and breathtakingly underpaid, the corrupt ones can stay. All Orbán had to say about the issue that it’s a shame that bribes paid to doctors cannot be counted into healthcare spending statistics – so that people would be off his case for intentionally underfunding healthcare at the expense of prestige projects and white elephants.

Somehow only 14% of Hungarians had been in the state healthcare system in the last 10 months and bribed someone.

Source: Eurobarometer report 2020

87% of Hungarian think that corruption is “widespread” in Hungary (the EU average is 71%), and 80% agree that it emanates from the public institutions (the EU average is 70%).

Hungarian government still strongly opposes joining the European Public Prosecutor’s Office so don’t forget to budget for “constitutional costs” as corporate actors prefer to call bribes.