The case is centered around the HUF 240 million (EUR 651,000) villa in Budapest's 2nd district, which was bought by the Foundation for Hungarian Talents without Borders, officially established to support Hungarians abroad.Continue reading
The Budapest municipality’s 2022 budget is 50 billion forints (EUR 136 million) in the red, and it could only be offset by government funding or loans, the leader of the opposition Socialist party’s chapter in the city assembly said on Wednesday.
Speaking ahead of a regular assembly meeting, Csaba Horváth accused the government of “creating a situation where the municipality is forced to plan a budget with a 50 billion forint hole.”
The city will remain operational only over the next six months unless the deficit is funded, he said.
Horváth said the city was “left with overdue development projects worth some 1,000 billion forints from the past 12 years”, which warrants a new agreement with the government to restore balance to the city’s finances, he said.
Horváth also called on the government to take over one-third of the funding of Budapest’s public transport.
Regarding the issue of the alleged sale of City Hall, Horváth said the mandate of the investigative committee will be extended by a month “to ensure a fair investigation”. “Should no evidence surface during that period of time, we can conclude that [the allegations] were … a Fidesz lie,” he said.
featured image: Csaba Horváth; via Zsolt Szigetváry/MTI