Párbeszéd: Orbán cabinet to shore up its finances by privatising protected nature sites

The government’s proposed amendments to legislation on the management of government-owned assets is tantamount to “selling out” protected nature sites, the co-leader of the opposition Párbeszéd party told an online press conference on Tuesday.

Rebeka Szabó insisted that the cash-strapped cabinet was trying to shore up its finances by privatising protected nature sites.

Although the law stipulates that the new owner should maintain the protected status of those areas, “the government has dismantled nature protection authorities” to the point where they will not be able to enforce the law, Szabó said. Further, the authorities are under the supervision of government offices, making them easy target for “some government-linked, Fidesz oligarch who wants to put pressure on them,” she added.

Párbeszéd is looking into turning to the Constitutional Court over the matter, she said.

The minister of economic development said earlier this month that the government was submitting a bill to ensure that the state continues to own assets that are critical to its core functions and to sell cost-generating assets that are peripheral to its essential activities. The current bill is aimed at strengthening the position of the state asset manager Magyar Nemzeti Vagyonkezelő and creating a unified, centralised system for the legal exercise of real estate ownership, Márton Nagy said.