Municipality supports bid for Budapest to host 2021 UEFA European U21 Football Championship

The municipal assembly in a vote on Wednesday backed the Hungarian Football Association’s (MLSZ) proposal for Budapest to co-host the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in 2021.

The proposal passed with 24 votes in favour and 4 opposition abstentions.

Mayor István Tarlós said a precondition for agreeing to host the event was that the costs should be fully covered by resources from the central budget.

MLSZ has until the end of August to submit its detailed bid.

For that matter, the representatives asked Budapest Mayor István Tarlós to negotiate with the government on providing supplemental central funding for the renovation of Chain Bridge, the Castle Hill Tunnel and Clark Ádám Square. In a unanimous vote, the assembly backed the proposal to speed up the renovation project.

In April, the assembly decided that the first phase would involve the renovation of the bridge and the tram, road and pedestrian underpass on the Pest side with the 16.4 billion forint cost paid from the municipality’s 2018 budget. The assembly also planned for a second phase to renovate the tunnel and Clark Ádám Square on the Buda side, to be paid for from the municipality’s 2022-2024 budget.

If central supplemental funding is approved, the renovation would begin in 2019 and all parts of the project would be completed by 2021-2022.

Prior to the session, the opposition Socialist Party called on Mayor István Tarlós to drum up the resources necessary for speeding up the planned renovation the capital’s iconic Chain Bridge so that the project takes place over 2.5 years instead of five as originally planned.

Socialist representative Csaba Horváth told a press conference on Wednesday that Budapest residents pay 20 billion forints (EUR 62.5m) in taxes each day, and the mayor should seek a quarter of this amount from the government in order to accelerate the renovation project.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/UEFA

Source: MTI