Christmas: “The government tries to put Budapest under guardianship”

“It is difficult to read the results of today’s FCM, other than that the government is trying to put Budapest under guardianship. It is about the fact that almost all the initiatives of the capital were rejected, in return it was rudely recommended that they pay and implement the improvements. – In a long Facebook post, Mayor Gergely Karácsony assessed what happened at Thursday’s meeting of the Conciliation Forum of the Budapest Public Development Council, the government and the capital.

As we reported, Balázs Fürjes announced to the government

• does not approve the request for a loan of 70,000 million HUF from the local government of the capital, which it would take from the European Investment Bank for the implementation of the developments in Budapest,
• does not support the introduction of a restart tax proposed by Christmas, which would impose more business taxes on the largest companies in the capital,
• does not reduce the part of the solidarity contribution distributed among the poorest local governments to Budapest,
• and it will not provide the capital with an additional 55 billion HUF from this year’s budget to complete public developments such as the Biodóm or Gellért Hill cable car project, or the interlocking tram extension.

However, as a “compromise”, it is recommended that the municipality hand over the implementation of these developments to the government, so that it is a burden on the government budget, not the municipality.

In his Christmas entry, he explained in detail what his problem was: according to him, with the above decision, the government treats the money of taxpayers, including the taxpayers of Budapest, who produce 36 percent of Hungary’s GDP, as if it were its own , what he couldn’t do.

The mayor believes that the government is trying to reduce the room for maneuver of the opposition municipalities, including Budapest, “our ability to act” so that it can then be “mantrazada” by the leaders of the opposition city “al-kal -mat-la-nok “.

“The problem with this is that they are actually attacking the local government as such. And it was already in Budapest where the leadership of the city came under tutelage, which is exactly what the majority of Budapest voted against a year ago ”. formulated.

According to Christmas, if the government took over the capital’s investments and implemented them itself, it would certainly happen that the orders would be given to oligarchs close to the government, and the costs of the investments would skyrocket. “However, we want to guarantee transparency in all investments. This is guaranteed by the participation of local governments and the people through them ”. added.

“(…) the sad situation is that the government has a hard time believing. The pictures are very good, only Secretary of State Fürjes said earlier: the pictures are just bragging. We don’t ask for bluffs, we get little of the action. Last February, for example, they promised a swift decision on state support for the renovation of the Chain Bridge. Seven months was not enough. Why should we believe today’s promises? “

– She continued.

According to Christmas, by saying no to the government to reduce its share of the solidarity contribution to Budapest, Budapest will have to “become a net contributor to the state, tackling a deficit of around 170 billion” due to the epidemic, the economic crisis and the “scourge of government.”

“What if it’s not a cynical criminal policy against Budapest?”

he asked, adding that as long as there is a possibility that “Budapest will develop, that there will be a funicular, that there will be a habitable Grand Boulevard, a green wharf, more buses and trams, (…) I will be open to all cooperation.”