"It's the calm before the storm, and if decision-makers don't take notice of the city and the country's interests, there could be a very big storm," Karacsony told reporters before handing the document over to a staff member of the Prime Minister's Office at the office's Castle District premises.

Karacsony said the government's "austerity measures" required a "superhuman effort" to keep Budapest's basic public services functioning.
 

Talks with the government had stalled, he said, adding that his administration had only heard through the media about the prime minister's statement that since he has been in government, no local council has gone bankrupt, and the capital must not be allowed to, either.

The mayor said the city administration had been warning since the pandemic that the government’s "austerity measures" were eating up the city’s reserves, so he was now telling the prime minister publicly that "there is a problem".

But the municipal council and the government, Karacsony said, disagreed on the nature of the problem. He said the reality was that if the government did not pay the city what it was entitled to and continued to "unlawfully charge the capital’s account", they would not be able to open Budapest’s credit line in January.

He warned that this would mean that the city council would not be able to pay wages, the city would come to a standstill, and both the capital and the country would face a serious credit rating risk.

"This is bad for everyone," Karacsony said, adding that his goal was to "bring decision-makers back to reality from the political battles".

The mayor said Budapest still had not received the 12 billion forints (EUR 31.3m) for public transport funding it was entitled to under its agreement with the government, or the 8.8 billion forint advance the city paid the EU on the cabinet’s behalf for the procurement of trolley buses.

He also said the Kuria, Hungary’s supreme court, had ruled that the government had unlawfully withdrawn 28 billion forints from the city’s account.

Karacsony said that in his letter he asked Prime Minister Viktor Orban for the government to pay what it owes the municipal council, and not to "make any more unlawful withdrawals" from the city’s account this year.

If these steps are not taken, the city would finish the year with 33 billion forints in the red, he warned.

The mayor signalled his openness to resolve the situation through talks, saying his administration had proposed a long-term settlement.
 

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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