Budapest mayor Karácsony: Rákosrendező project and solidarity tax ruling threaten Budapest’s autonomy
![The Rákosrendező area](https://contentf5.dailynewshungary.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/The-Rakosrendezo-area-Copy-e1737802671127.jpg)
The planned development project at Budapest’s Rákosrendező area raises issues of sovereignty and autonomy, Mayor Gergely Karácsony told the municipal assembly on Wednesday.
Ahead of a vote on whether the city should exercise its pre-emption rights and purchase the area, the mayor said “the Rákosrendező cause” would determine “if such a major project at such an important area of the city is implemented in line with the will of local residents … or in a completely different way.” Meanwhile, the mayor said a recent ruling concerning the city’s “solidarity tax” to be paid to the central budget also had a direct impact on the city’s autonomy and freedom. “There is no free, self-sustaining city without resources that it can use freely and independently,” Karácsony said. He said that under the ruling, collecting over 28 billion forints [EUR 68.6m] from the city’s accounts in 2023 had been illegitimate.
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