Budapest mayor: rule-of-law procedure could leave municipalities short of funding

Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest and the vice-president of the Hungarian Association of Local Councils, warned on Friday that localities could miss out on funding because of the rule-of-law procedure the European Commission has launched against Hungary.

After a meeting of the organisation’s presidium in Budapest, Karácsony said local Budapest councils and the association would work tirelessly to ensure a deal between the European Commission and the government can be struck on ending the rule-of-law procedure.

Even though the commission’s “serious criticisms of Hungary are legitimate”,

local council leaders have an interest in ensuring that Hungary can gain access to EU resources,

he added.

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Any deal between the commission and government must guarantee the stability of the local council system as well as cooperation between local councils and the central government based on partnership, he said.

Meanwhile, the association’s president, György Gémesi, the mayor of Gödöllő, complained about the

planned abolition of the local business tax

which he said would deprive local councils of a thousand billion forints, putting the maintenance of public services in direct jeopardy.

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Source: MTI