Green org wins case over parliament square trees

(MTI) – The environmental lobby group Protect the Future (Vedegylet) has won a court case against Budapest’s 5th district heritage protection office in connection with 78 trees that were cut down during the reconstruction of parliament square last year, the daily Nepszabadsag reported on Saturday.

Vedegylet had tried to intervene in the interest of keeping the trees on the square last April by asking the heritage office not to issue a permit for the work. The heritage office turned down their request on grounds that Vedegylet was not a client of that office. Vedegylet however had already registered to become a client by the time and the court now ruled that the office had no right to turn them away until their application had been processed.

Parliament in July 2011 approved a decree on restoring Kossuth square to its pre-1944 state. The project which is now near completion included building an underground car park for 540 vehicles, a visitor centre and a museum while making the area more grassy and the square free of motorists.

Photo: www.vedegylet.hu

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters