In a post on Facebook, Karacsony said he received a letter from Sziget and its founder, Karoly Gerendai, outlining their undertakings when it came to organising the festival.

"This does not differ substantially from the proposal discussed in the General Assembly yesterday. Based on today's reactions from the city assembly party groups, there is now a visible majority behind the new authority agreement, which substantively fulfills the Assembly’s mandate," he said.

"So I think only legal formalities remain in terms of securing Sziget's future, and no extraordinary assembly is needed -- we can finalise this at the regular November session. Until then, preparations for next year's Sziget can begin."

Earlier yesterday DK called for special session of Budapest city assembly on Sziget festival

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) is initiating an extraordinary session of the Budapest metropolitan assembly in order to "save the Sziget festival", Klara Dobrev, the party's leader, said on Thursday.

Dobrev told an online press conference that on Wednesday, the right-wing parties had made a "shameful decision" in the assembly, saying that the ruling Fidesz and opposition Tisza Party groups "jointly voted down the motion to save the Sziget festival."

A proposal by Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony that would have allowed Sziget to negotiate with new investors about continuing the festival in 2026 was supported by representatives of DK, the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party, Dialogue, the Socialists, and the Podmaniczky Movement. The entire opposition outside the Tisza Party rallied behind it, she added.

"Fidesz and Tisza together executed the Sziget festival, one of the most important and exciting cultural successes in Hungary's post-regime change history," Dobrev said.

She added that she understood Fidesz's decision, but was baffled by that of the Tisza Party. She asked why Tisza had to "say no to every plan that comes from the left and the mayor".

Dobrev asked Tisza leader Peter Magyar and the party's group in the city assembly to support the convening of an extraordinary session so that "together we can save the Sziget festival."

No progress was made on the future of Sziget on Wednesday after the Budapest general assembly failed to pass a resolution which would have called on the ownership committee to terminate the festival's existing land use agreement by mutual agreement.

Karacsony had submitted a proposal which the council voted down, with 13 votes in favour and 19 abstentions. Councillors of Fidesz and the Christian Democrats and the Tisza Party abstained, while Tisza's Judit Barna did not vote.

 

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all narratives within the local media.

XpatLoop believes in empowering readers to form their own views through complete and comprehensive coverage. To facilitate this XpatLoop has a balanced range of news partners, as you can see when you surf around XpatLoop.com

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