"This regime fears Budapest because we prove life outside their system can be freer, happier, and more humane," Karacsony declared on Monday evening, accusing the government of "petty vindictiveness, incompetence, and cruelty", despite the capital being "Hungary’s engine and cultural heart".

The city's achievements included saving lives during the Covid pandemic, securing the cheapest energy during the energy crisis, supporting vulnerable people "when the state abandoned them", and building parks, "not hotels for cronies".

He also praised his administration's record on "defending student housing and Rakosrendezo", supporting Ukrainian refugees "where the government failed", and hosting Hungary's largest-ever Pride march after official bans.

Since the national ruling Fidesz party "lost control of the city", funding cuts had surged twenty-fold, he insisted. "Budapest now funds the government; more is taken away from it than given," he said.

Referring to the district where he gave his speech, Karacsony called the 700 billion forint Buda Castle investment a "vanity project for oligarchs".

Citing rulings by the Constitutional Court and the State Audit Office, he demanded from the government: "Just obey Hungarian law. Return our money, and we'll handle the rest."

He said the court declared it "unconstitutional for Budapest to finance the government" and "unlawful for the government to take Budapest's money", while the audit office declared that "the extortion cannot continue because Budapest is going bankrupt."

He warned that if 27,000 public workers went unpaid in January, "the city stops", and the country would bear the consequences.

"If the looting doesn't stop, neither will we," Karacsony pledged. "January is just the start."

Orban: Budapest is not the mayor's, but the nation's capital

"Budapest is not the mayor's capital, but the nation's -- it belongs to us all," Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday. "If the Budapest leadership cannot pay the salaries of BKV [public transport] employees, we will."

"We're not at war: this is our capital!" he told the mayor of the 9th district Krisztina Baranyi who approached him at an event on Wednesday. In the video, she asked him to personally discuss the "fate of the capital" with Gergely Karacsony, the city's mayor.

The opposition politician accused Orban of waging a war against the capital, insisting that "everyone stands to lose" as a result.

The prime minister responded: "There's no war; there is peace, and I will pay their wages ... you can count on that."

 

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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