Index – Domestic – Would Gergely Christmas veto the World Athletics Championships?
At the end of November, Gergely Karácsony told ATV that there were two conditions for supporting the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest: one not to transfer assets to the Fudan University Foundation, and the other to receive funding for the development of the Healthy Budapest Program source. These two conditions were met then, so the veto was not met.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance on 22 December, the government will cut spending in 2022 by HUF 755 billion. As previously reported, part of this is that, among other items, expenditures related to the Healthy Budapest Program will be temporarily reduced by nearly HUF 13.2 billion.
It’s Gergely Christmas To RTL News explained:
If there is twenty billion forints for the destruction of Lake Neusiedl, there could be ten billion for the development of health care in Budapest. The capital supports the organization of the World Athletics Championships on the condition that the Healthy Budapest Program continues. When you stroke these resources, the government pulls the carpet out of an World Championships in Athletics.
RTL also contacted the Ministry of Human Resources and received the following answer: “the developments of the Healthy Budapest Program are only for rescheduling, this does not mean that they will not be implemented”.
(Cover image: Gergely Karácsony on October 3, 2021. Photo: Tamás Kaszás / Index)