Szarvas Mayor’s Speech Spreads Online as Gallicoop Funding Withdrawal Sparks Debate

Szarvas Mayor Pál Hodálik’s speech has spread rapidly online as the town debates why funding for the Gallicoop poultry company was withdrawn. Hodálik said the explanation for the decision contained serious contradictions.

He rejected a claim attributed to Dávid Gombár, the Tisza Party’s representative in Békés County and a former Gallicoop employee, that transparency problems lay behind the decision. Hodálik called that claim “a blatant lie” and said Gombár should have stood up for the company. The mayor said ministerial communications offered a different explanation: the application process had allegedly been conducted irregularly.

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a blatant lie

Hodálik also objected to treating the support as money awarded to the company’s owner, Lőrinc Mészáros. “It was not Lőrinc Mészáros who received it, but Gallicoop,” he said, arguing that the funding would have supported operational development rather than simply passing to the owner. Gallicoop previously said the grants could be used only for specified investments, including slaughterhouse and plant-capacity expansion, technological improvements and projects involving Hungarian suppliers.

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It was not Lőrinc Mészáros who received it, but Gallicoop

“The primary interest is for a company of this size to keep operating, at any cost,” Hodálik said at a council meeting. He noted that Gallicoop products reach about 40 countries and argued that economic performance, rather than political perceptions, should be the main consideration for a company of its size.

The mayor said it would be harmful to politically distinguish businesses based on their ownership. Gallicoop has previously warned that a politically motivated decision could put the Hungarian company at a competitive disadvantage against German, French and Polish rivals, potentially threatening export markets and jobs.

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The primary interest is for a company of this size to keep operating, at any cost