Government Office takes Budapest Municipality to court over alleged unlawful operation

The Budapest municipality has been operating unlawfully for months and has failed to elect a deputy mayor, even though the government office of Budapest has demanded that it do so, Botond Sára, the government commissioner for Budapest, said on Tuesday, adding that the office is turning to the courts over the matter.

“If the mayor and the assembly fail in such a simple objective,” then the budget issue would be even more problematic, Sára said in a video on Facebook. Should it be adopted in its current form on Wednesday, the budget would also be unlawful, he said.

Sára said that Gergely Karácsony, the city’s mayor, had admitted that Budapest was close to insolvency and its operations were at risk.

Since City Hall missed the government office’s deadline for electing a deputy mayor and restoring lawful operations, the government office is turning to the courts, Sára said.

“Regarding the budget, we’ll see what the city assembly decides on Wednesday. We will take every necessary step to avoid putting the functionality of the city at risk, because the safety and comfort of Budapest citizens is our priority,” Sára said.

As we wrote earlier, Budapest City Assembly postpones the deputy mayor vote amid political tensions; details are HERE.

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