Karacsony said at the Republikon Institute gathering that it was not especially the political gridlock in the assembly or the fact it had been impossible to appoint a deputy mayor that was holding the city back, but rather that it was in the midst of an economic crisis and had fallen victim to a government policy of blackmail.

He said the city assembly was a battleground between its biggest factions, Fidesz and the Tisza Party, both of which exploited Budapest affairs to position themselves ahead of the 2026 general election.

Recent months had shown that "Fidesz votes no to everything", so decisions can only be made with the ten-member Tisza faction.

Karacsony said it would be hard to overcome the gridlock if local politicians focused solely on the city's affairs as even then "the lightning of national politics strikes above us".

MTI Reports: Govt county commissioner tells Karacsony to 'comply with law'

The government commissioner of Budapest has told the city's mayor, Gergely Karacsony, to comply with the law and desist from pushing through an "unlawful budget".

Botond Sara said in a video uploaded to Facebook that Karacsony should refrain from pressing ahead with his "next unlawful measure", accusing him of working to push an "unlawful budget" through the city assembly, saying "he doesn't want to pay the 50 billion forints" [EUR 121.3m] in solidarity tax "that poorer localities are entitled to".

"This is no solution to the municipality's plight, which is close to insolvency," Sara said. He said Karacsony was "playing for time" and this would worsen the city's already difficult situation. "Of course, we will challenge [any] unlawful decision."

In response, Karacsony said in a post on Facebook that a government office challenge against the Budapest budget would put the municipality's operations at risk.

"This means, no less, that the government wants to force the city into insolvency," he said.

He said the government office was running afoul of a municipal court decision that said "over-taxing Budapest is tantamount to confiscation". "The government insists on taxes which the Constitutional Court has said are contrary to the right of local authorities to financial autonomy enshrined in Hungary's Fundamental Law," he said.

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