Public-interest asset management foundations (KEKVAs) were a key pillar of the Fidesz system. According to the State Audit Office, at least HUF 3,000 billion in public assets was transferred to these foundations.
The system was designed to survive even a change of government without a two-thirds majority. KEKVAs were embedded in the constitution, while their boards were granted sweeping powers: members could be appointed for life, without term limits, and new trustees could effectively be selected only by the existing board.
The foundations controlled public universities and major institutions, including MCC, the Mária Schmidt Foundation for the History and Society of Central and Eastern Europe, and the MOL–New Europe Foundation.
The system also became one of the reasons Hungary was cut off from EU funding.
A constitutional amendment adopted in June 2026 has now changed the rules: public assets transferred to KEKVAs for the performance of public functions are to return to the state, while the state takes back the founding rights.
One of the foundations examined by 444.hu is the Blue Planet Climate Protection Foundation, established in 2016 by former President János Áder. The foundation has received billions of forints from Fidesz governments. It purchased an office building on Pasaréti út for HUF 1.5 billion, which was subsequently rented by a company belonging to Áder and his wife.
Áder remains chairman of the foundation’s board. Its members include former Hungarian Academy of Sciences presidents Tamás Freund and Szilveszter E. Vizi, former minister János Lázár, and his former deputy Nándor Csepreghy.