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Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.

Factsheet for measure HU-2022-10/2446 – Updated – measures in Hungary

Budapest Helps: Assistance measures for refugees

Az orosz agresszió miatt Ukrajnából menekülõk megsegítésével kapcsolatos intézkedések Budapesten

Country Hungary , applies locally

    • – HU11 Budapest
Time period Temporary, 04 March 2022 – 31 December 2025
Context War in Ukraine
Type Legislations or other statutory regulations
Category Measures to prevent social hardship
– Provision of services in kind (e.g. food vouchers)
Author Nóra Krokovay (KOPINT-Tárki) and Eurofound
Measure added 03 June 2022 (updated 05 January 2026)

Background information

The Assembly of Budapest Municipal Council voted to accept a proposal by the Mayor of Budapest on services to help refugees arriving from Ukraine on 13 April 2022. The councillors voted unanimously to allow the mayor to amend the municipal budget to reflect the HUF 31 million in donations that were collected since the outbreak of the war and use them to fund short-term accommodation with meals and free public transport for refugees. The proposal required the modification of municipal decree 1/2020. (II. 5.) on tasks and 43/2020. (XII. 22.) on the budget. Changes were compiled in municipal decree 8/2022.

Content of measure

The municipality operates a help website with all information needed in English. Budapest Helps . The following assistance was proposed:

  • accommodation for 500 people in Budapest and other localities - mostly temporary but some longer-term
  • free public transportation in Budapest

Free travel is available with the presentation of a Ukrainian travel document that can be used for identification purposes. The Budapest Transport Centre was instructed to extend free travel on its public transport services to refugees from Ukraine several times.

In a proposal on measures to assist refugees fleeing Ukraine due to Russian aggression, the mayor reported that according to government decree 104/2022. (III. 12.) local governments are obliged to grant temporary protection to people with protected or refugee status, and the local government is entitled to receive a daily allowance of HUF 4,000 (about €10.26) per each person accommodated. On 1 April 2022, Budapest applied for this allowance after providing a total of 11,979 person-days of accommodation.

Updates

The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.

04 July 2025

Free travel on Budapest’s public transport system for Ukrainian refugees ended on 30 July 2025. Refugee children aged 14 and under, like Budapest-resident children, will be able to travel free of charge until 31 December 2025, according to Budapest Transport Company BKK.

26 September 2024

Free travel on Budapest’s public transport system for Ukrainian refugees has been extended until 31 December 2024, and it is again valid on the light suburban railway and buses.

26 March 2024

Free travel on Budapest’s public transport system for Ukrainian refugees has been extended until 30 September 2024, but the offer no longer includes travel on light suburban railway system HÉV and suburban buses. The Budapest Helps Support Programme launched the 4th round of support for Ukrainian refugee families with children living in Budapest. Applications for the cash transfer of HUF 48,000 (€116.5) per child were received until 17 May 2024.

04 March 2024

Funded by UNICEF, Budapest Municipality published a call for support to organisations providing services for children fleeing the war in Ukraine. The budget of the call is HUF 300bn (€758.95m) and approved grants can be in a range of HUF 500,000 to 50m (€1,265-126,489). Projects may include support to children’s parents or escorts, training for service providers or institutional developments as well. UNICEF’s cooperation agreement signed with Budapest Municipality on 18 July 2022 ends on 31 October 2024

04 January 2024

Free travel on Budapest’s public transport system for Ukrainian refugees has been extended until 31 March 2024

29 June 2023

Free travel on Budapest’s public transport system for Ukrainian refugees has been extended until 31 December 2023. In addition, from 16 October 2023 another round of aid is distributed to families with children fleeing the war in Ukraine and residing in Budapest. The amount of the one-off subsidy is HUF 48.000 (€126) per child.

22 December 2022

Upon the decision of the Budapest assembly in December 2022, the amendments introduced into the 2022 budget were transferred, without modifications, into the 2023 budget as well, thus extending free travel for Ukrainian refugees by 10 months until the end of June 2023.

01 June 2022

The free travel for Ukrainian refugees in Budapest has been extended until 31 August 2022.

Use of measure

In his address to the Municipal Assembly of Budapest on 13 April 2022 the mayor said that by 7 April 2022, 1,069 people stayed 13,184 nights in accommodation operated by the Municipality of Budapest, and 47,462 meals were prepared for adults and children from Ukraine. Between 28 June 2023 and 16 October 2023, HUF 120 million was allocated to support 1,417 refugee households from Ukraine with a total of 2,515 children, and in the second round, which started on 16 October, HUF 114 million was allocated to support 1,322 households with a total of 2,385 children, enbudapestem.hu reported

Contents

  • Solidarity

Target groups

Workers Businesses Citizens
Does not apply to workers Does not apply to businesses Migrants or refugees

Actors and funding

Actors Funding
Local / regional government
National funds
Regional funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

Trade unions Employers' organisations
Role No involvement No involvement
Form Not applicable Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

  • No involvement
  • Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

Involvement was more typically by civil organisations and charities.

Views and reactions

No specific views were expressed by social partners. The Municipal Assembly voted unanimously to support the measures.

Sectors and occupations

    • Economic area Sector (NACE level 2)
      H - Transportation And Storage H49 Land transport and transport via pipelines
      I - Accommodation And Food Service Activities I55 Accommodation
      I56 Food and beverage service activities
      Q - Human Health And Social Work Activities Q88 Social work activities without accommodation

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2022), Budapest Helps: Assistance measures for refugees, measure HU-2022-10/2446 (measures in Hungary), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/HU-2022-10_2446.html

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