Budapest's budget is set to close the year 33-35 billion forints (EUR 85-90m) in the red if the city can't agree with the government and debt collection is ordered on its accounts, and "if [the government] doesn't pay its debts and the subsidies for public transport", Kiss said.

Meanwhile, Hungary's top court, the Kuria, has ruled in favour of the municipality in its litigation with the government over the solidarity contribution, "which opens the door to further lawsuits," but civil lawsuits will not be concluded fast enough to solve the problem, he said.

The municipality is of the view that local authorities cannot be net contributors to the central budget; Budapest should not pay more in solidarity contributions than the funding it receives to maintain mandatory public services, he said.

"The liquidity situation of the capital is extremely uncertain ... we are not expecting help, only that they don't take away the monies we don't think they are entitled to."

If the city's current account loan cannot be closed at the end of the year, another cannot be opened at the start of 2026, and the city will not be able to pay its employees and suppliers, Kiss said.
 

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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