The fact that Budapest prepared a half-year budget in 2022 is a failure for Gergely Karácsony

– highlighted the To find the Hungarian Nation Gábor Bagdy, who was the Deputy Mayor of Finance of Budapest between 2010 and 2019.

The politician put it this way: Budapest has been in a special situation since 1990. It is not only a place of residence, but also the capital of the nation. “What is happening in the capital is also a matter for the whole country,” said Gábor Bagdy. He reminded: István Tarlós and Viktor Orbán agreed in 2018 to form the Budapest Public Development Council in order to be able to co-operate as a partner in matters concerning the capital, including the fact that the government will use priority projects from its own finances.

– Since 2019, this cooperation based on trust has cooled down, because Gergely Christmas was only interested in overthrowing the government.

– emphasized Gábor Bagdy, who said that the current budget is only a balloon, in response to the statement of the current deputy mayor Kiss Ambrus that the leadership of the capital already knew that the money would not be enough when the 2022 budget was adopted. According to press reports, the deputy said in connection with the capital’s budget for the next six months: it should not contain any austerity measures, but the budget also depends on the policy of the next government in Budapest. Kiss Ambrus added, “I’m planning a budget amendment for May, but it’s very important that we don’t want to go the way of truncating ourselves.”

According to Gábor Bagdy, the budget is formally in line with the law, as it is a politically catastrophic event, with at least HUF 50 billion in total unjustified revenue planned: a HUF 30 billion loan, and a $ 20 billion grant from the new, hopefully left-wing government to help Budapest.

The politician added that the management of the capital basically did everything to change the government, did not try to save money, so it may be that the austerity of the new managers was not reflected in the reorganization of the companies.

Gábely Karácsony’s activity Gábor Bagdy put it this way: when he won the mayor’s office in 2019, he cherished the ambitions of the candidate for prime minister and did not concentrate on his activities related to the capital. As he put it: Gergely’s statements 85-90 percent of Christmas was about big politics, he didn’t address and didn’t want to deal with capital issues.

Gábor Bagdy believes that out of the 180 billion surplus left by István Tarlós in the capital’s coffers, the Christmas people thought they would pull it out until they won the election. “Only Christmas did not care about the affairs of the capital after the pre-election,” reminded Gábor Bagdy, who said that the concept of leading the capital was a huge mistake. He added:

the mayor has now reached the point where he is forced to seek help from the current Fidesz-KDNP government, to which he has so far been crucified.

They’re constantly roaring

The Budapest leadership, threatening the constant horror of bankruptcy, is already accusing the government of bleeding them financially. As early as 2020, Kiss Ambrus, deputy general mayor for the budget, spoke of a “serious hole” in the budget and an unsustainable trajectory. The capital, handed over to the coffers full of former mayor István Tarlós, would have been indebted for thirty years with a loan of two hundred billion from the European Development Bank (EIB) if the government had not prevented it. Kiss said the cabinet’s decision was just a political move.

During the pandemic, the decision of the Cabinet to halve the local business tax advance was very helpful for entrepreneurs, after which the Deputy Mayor swayed the insolvency of Budapest. Complaining about a lack of resources, he spoke of a “red line” and stated that they would operate the capital with the capacity at that time until the money ran out. However, business tax revenue arrived on time, so the concern proved unnecessary again.

Kiss in November last year stated that if he does not receive government support, public transport in Budapest may stop in a few days. The fact that the reason for this was the capital’s preparations, because the Budapest leadership did not sign the agglomeration cooperation agreement, which is a precondition for its funds, no longer received such publicity.

Finally, the financing was settled from the overdraft until the grant arrived. This year’s budget is planned for only half a year, entrusting the change of government. This has been missed, so the capital is once again demanding financial help from the cabinet, it may decide on this at its meeting in the Capital City Assembly on Wednesday.

Cover image: Ambrus Kiss, Deputy Mayor and Gergely Karácsony