Dramatic pothole crisis in Budapest: under Karácsony’s leadership, the capital has slid back into the chaos of the early 2000s.
Between January 27 and February 2, a total of 6,020 road defects were recorded in Budapest in just one week. On February 2, a daily record was also broken, when road inspectors reported 1,966 potholes in a single day — that’s one new pothole every minute!
Mr. Mayor, it’s time you finally noticed that you are not only the leader of those who live inside the Grand Boulevard. Two-thirds of Budapest’s residents live in the outer districts, yet they are the ones forced to wreck their cars day after day on neglected roads.
While in 2019, under István Tarlós’s mayoralty, 20 billion forints were allocated for road renovations, this year Karácsony’s administration planned only 1.6 billion forints for this purpose — barely enough to repair a few kilometers out of the 1,104 kilometers of roads managed by the capital. All this while Karácsony’s team had 51 billion forints for Rákosrendező, tens of millions for consultants, and bonuses for friends. Yet somehow there is still not enough funding where the problem is most severe — for the people of Budapest.
Pothole patching, moreover, is merely a forced, temporary solution — nothing more than symptom treatment. Without a real, systemic road-renovation program, drivers will continue to face constant flat tires, broken axles, severe vehicle wear, and direct accident risks. The safety of Budapest’s residents and the protection of their property must not become victims of political negligence.
Enough excuses — Budapest deserves better!
This is György Street in the 16th district, and I am here because I received a letter from Mayor Péter Kovács, which was also addressed to Gergely Karácsony. As I show you the condition of the road, you can see that cars are forced to slow down or drive outside their lane because the surface is so full of potholes that it is simply unusable.
In this letter, the mayor writes to Gergely Karácsony asking the Mayor of Budapest to take immediate action to renovate this road, since it is a metropolitan road and buses also use it — so not only drivers are affected. The mayor also adds that he does not accept as an excuse any claim that there is no money for the renovation, because if 50 billion forints were available for Rákosrendező, then there must also be money for road repairs.
And I would add this: Gergely Karácsony should stop being only the mayor of downtown residents and start caring about the two-thirds of Budapest’s population who live in the suburbs, who are forced every day to commute to work, take their children to school, or simply get around on roads like these.
So, Mr. Mayor, it’s time to finally do your job and put Budapest’s roads in order.
🔴 1️⃣ “Dramatic pothole crisis” – emotional overdrive right from the start
Key words:
“dramatic”
“chaos”
“unusable”
“life-threatening”
👉 Technique: emotional priming
The very first sentence creates a sense of panic before any context is provided.
📌 Goal:
The audience should not analyze, but get outraged.
🔴 2️⃣ Big numbers used for shock – without context
Claims:
6,020 potholes in one week
1,966 in a single day
“one new pothole per minute”
👉 Technique: numerical shock framing
❌ What’s missing:
what counts as a “pothole” (a report ≠ a newly formed defect)
how many were previously known issues
what the weather conditions were
whether this is high or low relative to the size of the road network
📌 Effect:
The number functions as a verdict, not as data.
🔴 3️⃣ Total personalization of responsibility
Karácsony Gergely
👉 Technique: scapegoating
The text suggests:
every pothole = Karácsony’s personal failure
❌ What disappears:
budgetary constraints
state-level funding withdrawals
technical problems accumulated over multiple cycles
decision-making mechanisms within the city assembly
📌 This is simplification, not analysis.
🔴 4️⃣ False past–present contrast
Tarlós István
“Under Tarlós there were 20 billion, now only 1.6 billion”
👉 Technique: cherry picking + false comparison
❌ What is not clarified:
whether the amounts are adjusted to the same price level
how much central government funding existed then vs. now
what new mandatory expenditures have appeared since
📌 This is not a fair comparison, but a nostalgia narrative.
🔴 5️⃣ Rákosrendező = all the money spent elsewhere
“If there was 51 billion for Rákosrendező, there must be money for roads too”
👉 Technique: false budgetary equivalence
❌ Reality:
different funding sources
different purposes
different legal constraints
📌 This is deliberate conflation meant to provoke moral outrage.
🔴 6️⃣ “Outer districts vs. inner city” – artificial division
“Not just the mayor of those living inside the ring road”
👉 Technique: us-vs-them narrative
📌 Goal:
playing on territorial identity
pitting voter groups against each other
🔴 7️⃣ “I received a letter” – superficial legitimization
Kovács Péter
👉 Technique: personal involvement + borrowed authority
The letter is not evidence, but a communication prop:
no technical documentation
no cost estimates
no deadlines
📌 Role of the letter: a visual prop for the camera.
🔴 8️⃣ Omitted self-interest – THIS IS THE KEY POINT YOU’RE MAKING
❗ What is completely missing:
that she is a political actor
that an active party conflict is taking place in the city assembly
that the statement serves campaign purposes, not problem-solving
👉 This omission is what makes it propaganda.
🧠 Overall picture – what is actually happening?
This text:
❌ does not offer solutions
❌ does not analyze systems
❌ does not examine its own responsibility
✔️ stirs emotions
✔️ names an enemy
✔️ reinforces voter identity
👉 A classic campaign video — with potholes as scenery.