BREAKING: Chance for Sziget Festival 2026 practically zero after Municipal Council vote

The chance of a Sziget Festival in 2026 has effectively dropped to zero following today’s decision in Budapest’s Municipal Council. This means the end of a brand over 30 years old, which brought tens of billions in revenue to Budapest’s tourism and entertainment sectors and attracted tens of thousands of international visitors. At present, hardly anyone sees a way to hold the festival next year, with founder Károly Gerendai himself left baffled by the decision.

Municipal Council votes down the mayor

As previously reported, the American investor behind the Sziget Festival pulled out to avoid further losses from organising the event. The organisers then reached out to founder Károly Gerendai, who formulated a plan to save the festival. He aimed to organise next year’s event not by bringing in big corporations, but by involving those directly interested in the festival’s success.

• Budapest’s Sziget Festival may happen next year, but time is running out and a lot depends on politicians

Gerendai even established a new company of which he is the sole owner. However, a key initial condition was for the capital to cancel the previous company’s site licence and issue a new one to Gerendai’s company.

Today, members of the City Assembly voted against this. Most either voted no or abstained—the latter counts as a no in the final tally. Both the Tisza party and Fidesz criticised the city leadership for risking hundreds of millions of forints in revenue by terminating the existing agreement. They wanted guarantees that cancelling the contract would still guarantee a Sziget Festival. Since no such guarantee was given (and it’s hard to imagine from whom they could have gotten one), they abstained.