Jobbik blames Orbán, Fidesz, left wing for withdrawal of Olympic bid

Budapest, February 23 (MTI) – Opposition Jobbik party on Thursday blamed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, ruling Fidesz and the leftist parties for the planned withdrawal of Budapest’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The prime minister’s cabinet office announced on Wednesday that it had passed a resolution proposing that the City of Budapest and the Hungarian Olympic Committee should withdraw Budapest’s Olympic bid.

Speaking at a press conference, Jobbik MP György Szilágyi slammed the government for having “eliminated” social dialogue in Hungary over the past six years. He said the government had raised corruption to the highest levels in the country and now “completely ignores the views of the people”.

Szilágyi said the blame for the withdrawal of the Olympic bid also lay with the Socialists and other opposition parties, arguing that they had taken advantage of “the people’s anti-Fidesz sentiment” and had backed the signature drive for a referendum on the bid “based on political principles”.

He said Jobbik was the only party capable of implementing the change he said Hungary needed and the only party under whose governance Hungary could stage an Olympics “without having to fear that corruption would multiply its costs”.

Source: MTI