The government and the Budapest city council signed a five-point agreement at a session of the Municipal Development Council on Thursday, agreeing that the cabinet and the local council would hold consultations on the use of European Union funding in Budapest.
Balázs Fürjes, state secretary for developments in the capital and its agglomeration, told a joint press conference held with deputy mayor Ambrus Kiss after the session that a joint working team would be set up to discuss the utilisation of EU resources for Budapest and the government would make its decisions following these discussions.
The cabinet has earmarked 3,000 billion forints (EUR 8.2bn) from funding available in the next EU budget period to be spent mainly in Budapest and to a lesser part in the agglomeration, Fürjes said. In line with Brussels regulations, only 80 billion forints would have to be spent on Budapest, he added.
It was also agreed that out of 42 billion forints available in the scheme dubbed Healthy Budapest, 10 billion forints would be granted to district local councils to build and modernise doctors’ surgeries and buy medical equipment, he said. He added that the Budapest mayor would make proposals on the distribution of funds and 75 percent of the resources would go to opposition-led district local councils.
An agreement was also signed on a green development scheme affecting 39 areas totalling in size more than 2,500 large football pitches, he said.
The government has agreed to take over the financing and implementation of three large development projects in Budapest, Fürjes said. One involves the complex revamp of the Danube bank in Pest between Margaret Bridge and Fővám Square, the other is the southern extension of the interconnected tram network in Buda and the third is the expansion of a bus terminal in Kelenföld, he added.
It was also agreed that the municipal council would support the railway strategy for Budapest agglomeration, Fürjes said.
Earlier, Budapest Deputy Mayor Ambrus Kiss hailed the agreement to set up the working group, adding that at the same time it was “only normal” for the municipal council and the government to consult on how the funds are distributed.
featured image: Balázs Fürjes (left) with Deputy Mayor Ambrus Kiss; via Fürjes’ Facebook page
