Green opposition LMP said that Hungary would benefit from the withdrawal of the Olympic bid.

Local lawmaker Antal Csárdi added, however, that it was “unacceptable” that the ruling Fidesz party had “ignored the will of the people” and was “still not willing” to call a referendum on the bid.

Csárdi said that even if Budapest’s bid is withdrawn, the government would still have to account for the funds that had been spent on it. He said the government would have to take responsibility for “having wasted tens of billions” of forints on the bid.

Socialist leader Gyula Molnár accused the government of “cowardice”, saying the ruling Fidesz party was shrinking away from holding a referendum because it “dreads” being defeated.

Molnár noted that the government had earlier dropped a contested ban on Sunday shopping and had thereby avoided holding a plebiscite.

The opposition Együtt party has called on Prime Minister Viktor Orban to repay all funds so far spent in connection with Budapest’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics to the central budget.

The radical nationalist Jobbik party blamed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, ruling Fidesz and the leftist parties for the planned withdrawal of Budapest’s bid. Jobbik MP György Szilágyi slammed the government for having “eliminated” social dialogue in Hungary over the past six years.

He said the government had raised corruption to the highest levels in the country and now “completely ignores the views of the people”.

Szilágyi said blame lay with the Socialists and other opposition parties, arguing that they had taken advantage of “the people’s anti-Fidesz sentiment” and had backed the signature drive for a referendum on the bid for political gain.

He said Jobbik was the only party capable of implementing the change he said Hungary needed and the only party under whose governance Hungary could stage an Olympics “without having to fear that corruption would multiply its costs”.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Bruzák Noémi