Budapest mayor says no to Chinese university, reveals alternative plans for the area – PHOTOS

Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest, has spoken out against the planned construction of a new university campus in the southern part of the city, belonging to the Fudan University of China and financed by a loan of a whopping 1.26 billion euros.

In his Facebook post, as hvg.hu writes, he presented concept designs for Budapest Student City, a new, modern quarter that could provide affordable accommodation for over 10,000 Hungarian students.

The plans were made by the world-famous Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta and are characterised by extensive green areas, proximity to the water, and functional buildings.

While the government initially supported the idea of the Student City, they are now going back on their word, said Karácsony. “We signed an agreement about this in the Public Development Council; there was a unanimous decision made in the General Assembly of Budapest. And the Prime Minister had said that what the General Assembly does not want, shall not be.”

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Karácsony continues by listing what they do not want: Hungarian taxpayers owing 1.3 billion euros to China, huge blocks of concrete taking up the space that could house Hungarian students, a walled-off elite campus built by Chinese companies, financed by a Chinese loan.

If the campus is built, Hungarians will have to pay the price of the Chinese political and economic expansion and their increasing influence, wrote Karácsony.

The EUR 1.3 billion loan that Hungary would need to finance the project also exceeds the entire 2019 budget allotted to higher education. “What the government wants to spend on the Chinese university, they should spend on the development of Hungarian tertiary education,” urged Karácsony, ending the post by saying that they will do everything in their power to stop the government from making such a senseless investment.

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Source: hvg.hu