Chinese, Russian agreements, Paks 2 contracts will be reviewed?
Opposition Párbeszéd will ask the Sovereignty Protection Authority, once it is set up, to review contracts signed for the Paks 2 nuclear power station project and certain agreements with China and Russia, Benedek Jávor who is heading the party’s list for the upcoming European Parliament election said on Saturday.
The newly set-up Sovereignty Protection Authority will be tasked with “pestering civilians, opposition politicians and journalists, pursuing smear campaigns, and producing Russian-type kompromats”, he said. He added that these were tasks that have nothing to do with Hungary’s sovereignty but “they will involve removing the remains of democracy”.
At the same time, Jávor said action should be taken to protect Hungary’s sovereignty, with recent years’ efforts by Russia and China to gain influence “with methods known from the Balkans and the third world, by developing economic and political dependencies”.
Pátbeszéd will ask the Sovereignty Protection Authority to review a Russian-Hungarian nuclear cooperation agreement, the Paks expansion contracts including its financing deals, Hungary’s long-term gas supply contracts and gas transport agreements, the Budapest-Belgrade railway construction agreement, and the case of a Chinese loan provided to MVM, he said.
Jávor said these contracts need to be reviewed in order to reveal how Russia and China interfere in Hungary’s domestic affairs.
Read also:
- Paks expansion in construction phase, timetable signed – Read more HERE
- Foreign minister: The two new blocks in Paks will be absolutely ‘Fukushima-proof’
Here is the Great Agreement? This is how opposition wants to defeat Orbán in Budapest
The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK), Socialist and Párbeszéd parties have concluded cooperation agreements for next year’s municipal elections, the parties said in a joint statement on Thursday.
The pact between former PM Gyurcsány’s DK and Párbeszéd covering the whole country includes jointly re-nominating Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony and all of the two parties’ incumbent mayors. It is also for fielding mayoral candidates on a joint list in localities and in Budapest districts currently governed by mayors of co-ruling Fidesz and Christian Democrats.
Under the DK-Socialists agreement, the parties will re-nominate their incumbent mayors serving across the country and field mayoral candidates in non-opposition led districts in Budapest and in several localities.
The question is whether this deal will be enough to defeat Orbán’s candidates in the 2024 municipal elections, especially in Budapest. Momentum Movement, having many supporters in the capital and one mayor in the downtown’s 6th district, is not part of the deal. In Zugló (14th district), for example, they already announced they would not support Csaba Horváth, the Socialists’ incumbent mayor. In 2021-2022, they did not support the previous Socialist MP, Csaba Molnár, and Ákos Hadházy defeated him brutally in the primaries.
Furthermore, there are multiple Budapest districts, where Momentum and DK or the Socialists have a mayoral candidate. One example is Budapest’s 21st district, where the DK and the Momentum claim their candidate is the joint opposition candidate. Maybe a primary will decide about their fate.
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Hungarian opposition files complaint over waste management at Samsung plant
The opposition Párbeszéd-Zöldek is filing a complaint over suspected violation of waste management rules by the Samsung plant in Göd near Budapest and asked the chief public prosecutor to investigate it, the leader of the party’s European parliamentary list said on Tuesday.
Benedek Jávor told an online press conference that according to an environmental review, the plant’s operation had been “practically continually irregular” in recent years and it was still impossible to ensure that it could operate without violating environmental threshold values.
The Hungarian party has previously called on the authorities to withdraw the factory’s operational permit, Jávor said. A response Samsung SDI has given to numerous concerns failed to address issues concerning air pollution, noise and water use, he added.
As a result, Párbeszéd believes the plant’s lawful operation cannot be guaranteed, he said.
Samsung SDI has failed to clarify what happens with the 40,000 tonnes of waste produced, partially including hazardous waste, he added.
Erdogan submits Sweden’s bid for NATO membership: will Orbán follow?
Opposition Párbeszéd is calling for parliament to put the ratification of Sweden’s NATO accession on its agenda, the party’s group leader said on Tuesday.
Tímea Szabó told an online press conference that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had submitted a bill on Monday to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession. After this, Hungary is the only NATO member that has yet to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession, she added.
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Hungarian green parties opposing Samsung investment, Azerbaijani electricity contract
The opposition LMP party has called on the government to cancel the multilateral agreement with Azerbaijan on electricity transmission. Meanwhile, the opposition Párbeszéd-Greens has called for the suspension of operations of the Samsung SDI battery plant in Göd, near Budapest, until the plant receives legal permits.
LMP calls on government to cancel Azerbaijan electricity transmission contract
In December 2022, Prime Minister Viktor Orbén signed the agreement regarding the undersea power line with his Georgian and Romanian counterparts and the Azeri president, LMP politician Örs Tetlák noted at a press conference on Friday.
He said it was baffling that the government was counting on Azeri wind energy while blocking wind farms in Hungary, noting that barely 5 percent of Azeri energy was from renewable sources, and there is no guarantee that green energy would be delivered by a country rich in natural gas.
The LMP politician noted that the project was in the planning stage, and based on the 2.3 billion euro EU subsidy for the project, Hungary would receive hundreds of billions of forints to pay for construction, when this money could be spent far more effectively.
Párbeszéd calls for suspension of Samsung battery plant operations
The opposition Párbeszéd-Greens has called for the suspension of operations of the Samsung SDI battery plant in Göd, near Budapest, until the plant receives legal permits. The plant has operated for five years without the proper legal permits, Benedek Jávor, a party adviser, told an online press briefing on Friday. The plant, he added, had been polluting the environment and exceeding harmful emission limits, and the authorities had fined the company. Also, he said Samsung SDI failed to operate a proper network of monitoring wells for the assessment of underground water pollution and noise levels produced by the factory exceeded acceptable limits.
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Hungary-Russia contract concerning Paks NPP upgrade still kept in secret
Benedek Jávor, the European Union adviser of the opposition Párbeszéd-Greens, expressed concern over the government’s secrecy concerning the insurance contracts of the upgrade of the Paks nuclear plant on Saturday.
At an online press conference broadcast on Facebook, Jávor said it was one of the key issues of the Paks upgrade whether the project is adequately insured. This is important so that the financial consequences of unexpected events are not burdened on Hungarian taxpayers, he said.
Jávor said it was reason for concern that in this year’s amendment to the contract between the Hungarian and Russian partners, “the Hungarian party waived its right to consent regarding the contracts concluded by Rosatom, and gave the general contractor a free hand on how to guarantee financial collaterals in the event of a delay or accident”.
He said it was also problematic that a brokerage tender was called for the Hungarian insurance of the project, which was won by a unit of the group owned by the businessman Lőrinc Mészáros as a single bidder. The deadlines set in the original tender were modified several times, and it is still unclear whether the company fulfilled the public procurement requirements and the appropriate insurance has been taken out, he added.
Parbeszed-Greens have asked these questions in writing but the government only gave “cynical” one-sentence answers stating that the Paks project had all the necessary contracts, Jávor said.
Read also:
- Hungarian minister confident about Paks nuclear power plant’s Russian upgrade – Read more HERE
- Rosatom head: All obstacles to Paks II construction removed, Lavrov guaranteed energy security
Hungary’s drinking water supply in danger?
The government’s policy of attracting battery plants to Hungary will end up endangering the country’s supply of drinking water, the opposition Párbeszéd-Greens told a press conference on Friday.
Some 95 percent of Hungary’s water supply flows through the country, while the domestic water supply, renewed mostly from rainfall, is the second lowest in the European Union, the party’s parliamentary group leader Tímea Szabó said. According to the 2019 report on national water strategy, 112 cubic kilometres of water flows into Hungary each year, while 5-7 cubic kilometres more than that flows out, Szabó said. “Hungary’s annual water balance is constantly negative,” she said.
The government has neglected to build water reservoirs or reform water management in any way to address the situation, she said. Hungary lacks gravity drainage reservoirs or water-saving irrigation systems, and its water management experts had “fled the water management institutions forced under the purview of a ruined and politicised interior ministry,” she said.
Read also:
- Accidents, illnesses in battery plants in Hungary: new law comes?
- Hungary becoming a battery superpower: is it a good idea?
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government “lies” when they say Hungary’s water supply is safe, she said. “That is not true even without battery plants”, and the plants will put the water supplies under even greater strain, she added. Parbeszed is working to stop the construction of further plants, she said. The party will expect immediate answers on issues raised by Orbán’s speech in parliament on Monday, and wants to know when the government will introduce a water management economy that ensures drinking water and agriculture for further generations, she said.
Lex battery plant: authorities can no longer fine pollutant factories in Hungary?
A government decree issued on 21 September changes the environmental rules for companies in Hungary. As a result, there may now be plants – battery plants, among others – that cannot be fined and closed down by the environmental authority. Some selected firms may thus find themselves in a position where they are technically impossible to sanction. After the news hit the press, the Energy Ministry issued a clarification.
According to Telex, the new regulation creates a new legal category: the environmental authority contract. This would allow even the most polluting companies to escape penalties by signing a contract.
“Environmental authority contract”
Officially, “during an emergency, the environmental authority may conclude an environmental authority contract with the client instead of taking a decision to remedy the breach. In the environmental authority contract, the customer undertakes to cease the infringing conduct and to bring its conduct into compliance with environmental legislation and the requirements of the permit issued by the environmental authority in the manner specified in the environmental authority contract.”
No clarification in the beginning
In other words, if a company fails to comply with environmental rules, the authority will be able to conclude a contract with the company instead of a penalty. In the contract, the company agrees to remedy the non-compliance. The regulation does not specify the type of establishment with which such a contract may be concluded. However, when it was published, many people concluded that it was designed specially for battery factories that continually break the rules in Hungary.
No real means to regulate battery plants
According to Telex, the authorities have not had much leverage to regulate the consistently non-compliant battery factories in Hungary. It was common practice to fine companies with a turnover of several hundred billion forints to HUF 2-3 million. Only the battery-processing plant in Bátonyterenye was recently temporarily closed down after they continued to break all the rules. Several workers even died at the company’s other plant in Szigetszentmiklós.
According to Dalma Dedák, an environmental policy expert at WWF Hungary, the regulation “means that there will be customers who will not receive any penalties, even if they have seriously polluting activities”.
On Friday, Benedek Jávor, a politician from the opposition Párbeszéd (Dialogue for Hungary) party, drew attention to the amendment. According to him, the battery industry in Hungary has now become a “state within a state”, where permits are scandalously permissive, controls are superficial and fines are symbolic. Jávor is therefore turning to the European Commission.
Battery plant, metallurgical plants? Clarification
After the news of the amendment hit the press, the Ministry of Energy said that the regulation would only apply to metallurgical plants. “The government’s intention is that this rule will only apply to operating smelters. Not battery factories. A clarification on this will be published in the Gazette next week,” Telex quoted the ministry as saying.
However, according to Benedek Jávor, “the Ministry is not telling the truth, the regulation was originally intended to cover a much wider range of industries, including battery factories, but as protests erupted, they decided to back out of the proposal. As a way out, they came up with what they hoped would be a less prestige-losing solution, radically narrowing the scope of those affected – effectively nullifying the legislation without having to repeal it.”
Read also:
Paks nuclear power plant upgrade impossible?
The upgrade of the Paks nuclear plant is “impossible to carry out”, and so the government should withdraw from all contracts, the European Union adviser of the opposition Párbeszéd – Greens told a press conference on Friday.
Contrary to the government’s statements that the upgrade had been green-lighted, the project is facing increasing challenges and “has accumulated incredible delays”, Benedek Jávor said. Construction has not actually started, the project has yet to receive an implementation permit, and the war and the sanctions against Russia have prompted several amendments to the contracts, he said. The resulting “tinkering” has resulted in “many things landing in the hands of oligarchs”, he said.
Read also:
Hungarian opposition calls for west-facing orientation
Opposition parties called on the government to strengthen European values and Hungary’s west-facing orientation on the national holiday of 20 August, named after state-founder king Saint Stephen.
The Democratic Coalition said in a statement that Hungarians had been a European nation ever since the founding of the state, yet currently “instead of our natural allies, only eastern dictators are willing to engage in dialogue with the Hungarian government”.
“When the Hungarian government is the only one in Europe that roots for Europe’s defeat in a war, we can be sure that they have let us down and our nation has been made to leave the path marked for us at the founding of our state,” it added.
Co-leader of the Socialists Ágnes Kunhalmi said in a statement that when Saint Stephen had chosen a west-facing orientation for Hungary, “he made the right decision because instead of building from the past, he chose the future”.
Contrary to this, Hungary’s current regime celebrates from Saint Stephen’s heritage only the power of the state and the inseparable relation of church and state, she said.
Párbeszéd said in a statement that commemorating the founding of the state should not involve “wasteful squandering of money, damaging the environment and health”. The party condemned the 20 August fireworks display, stating that “it is not fireworks that makes a nation great but the multitude of well-educated people”.
Momentum leader and group leader Ferenc Gelencsér said in a video message that it was Hungarians’ decision to belong to the west rather than the east made a thousand years ago which should be celebrated on 20 August. “What we celebrate is that our statehood links us to western democracies instead of eastern dictatorships,” he added.
Czech prime minister outraged on Orbán’s keynote speech
The opposition parties have slammed the prime minister’s keynote speech at the summer university in Baile Tusnad, in central Romania, saying it had failed to offer answers on the challenges to Hungarian interests, everyday life, and the future of the world.
Czech PM slams Orbán
Czechia is a sovereign state, and its government is protecting the interests of the nation, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Saturday, responding to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech at the Balvanyos Summer University in Baile Tusnad, in central Romania.
Responding to Orbán’s remarks on “federalists’ attack on the Visegrád Group”, Fiala said: “Czechia is a sovereign state. We decide independently what we promote, support or want to change within the European Union.” “Absurd stigmatisations will certainly not contribute to the necessary cooperation of central European countries. On the contrary, that requires mutual respect,” he said.
Just like the opposition
Commenting on the speech Viktor Orbán gave at the Bálványos summer university, Hungarian opposition party Jobbik-Conservatives accused Orbán of “governing the country motivated by a wish to keep his power and by foreign interests, rather than the Hungarian national interests.” During Orbán’s tenure, the forint sank to an all-time low, inflation of food prices skyrocketed and “the cost of living crisis continues to deepen,” the statement said. Jobbik said the party wanted to create a “normal country with normal wages and life”, and give the country a “responsible prime minister and government that would serve the interests of the Hungarian nation”.
LMP said the speech “had precious little to do with the most important challenges of the everyday lives of Hungarians”. “Contrary to Orbán’s production report”, the Hungarian economy has not become more independent but “incredibly vulnerable” in the past decade, LMP said. As a result, Hungarians feel the current crisis the most, the party said. Hungary’s plight is rooted in a “fundamentally flawed economic policy” that exposed the country to Russian energy and Western capital simultaneously, the statement said.
LMP said it was a “mistake of historic proportions … that the government should add Chinese industry to our dependencies through battery colonisationn”, as battery plant investments were “tantamount to sacrificing our future and independence for short-term political goals”.
Párbeszéd-Greens called the speech “disappointing”, saying it should have been used to “offer solutions to the biggest problems for the future of Hungary and the world: the ecological and climate crisis and related issues such as the cost of living crisis in Hungary”. “Instead of answers, it has only shown one thing: that he has no relevant thoughts about our future,” the party said. “Hungarians’ interest would be a fair, safe, green Hungary of solidarity, but Viktor Orbán and Fidesz’s politics has taken us further away from that … according to this speech, they will continue the same way, barging full-tilt ahead in history’s dead-end street,” they said.
Another battery plant planned near Pécs, Hungary? Opposition demands answers
The opposition Párbeszéd-Greens have written to the minister of foreign affairs and trade asking him to clarify if the government is planning any investments related to battery production in a greenfield area near Pécs, in southern Hungary, which was recently reclassified as an industrial area.
A few days ago, the official gazette Magyar Közlöny published a decree declaring certain land areas near Pécs as targets for investment, Párbeszéd parliamentary group leader Tímea Szabó told a press briefing on Wednesday.
She said it was as yet unknown what kind of industrial investments were planned for the “highly valuable agricultural area”, adding that the area was only 10km from the city’s drinking water base and new projects there were potentially hazardous.
Questions such as which investors have approached the government, who owns the newly classified areas, were local councils involved in the decisions, and were locals consulted must be answered, she added.
Opposition turns to top court on election law amendment
The opposition Párbeszéd party has gathered enough signatures from MPs allowing it to turn to the Constitutional Court with the request that it review the Fidesz party’s amendment to the election law with regard to procedures and the local councils the ruling party submitted a few weeks ago, Párbeszéd’s group leader said on Sunday.
Tímea Szabó told an online press briefing that whereas various aspects of electronic administration were altered under the amendments, others fundamentally changed how local council elections are held.
One such is that local council by-elections cannot take place until scheduled municipal elections are held, she said.
Also, in settlements of more than 10,000 inhabitants, parties can only establish a list if their candidates are nominated in at least two-thirds of the individual districts, she added.
Szabó said these amendments were unconstitutional in various ways.
Already, she added, elections cannot be held due to “Fidesz restrictions” in 10 settlements and the rights of voters were being harmed.
Párbeszed to appeal to CCourt over ‘public hearings without audience’
The opposition Parbeszed-Greens party has said that it will turn to the Constitutional Court to appeal for scrapping a government decree that allows for public hearings to be held without an audience.
Párbeszed co-leader Bence Tordai told an online press conference on Monday that the government had used Hungary’s special legal order introduced earlier with regard to the war in Ukraine to overrun relevant regulations “and even the constitution itself” concerning “a matter totally unrelated to the war or its impacts”. He added that the government “had no authorisation” to do so.
The new institution is a “bad joke … legal nonsense”, Tordai said and insisted that local governments led by ruling Fidesz intended to put in practice public hearings that the public could not attend. The new mechanism “obviously violates fundamental democratic rights,” he said, adding that public hearings “are the second strongest instrument of participatory democracy after referenda”.
As we wrote today, leading parties draft laws to prevent Hungarian parties from receiving funding from abroad, details HERE.
Hungarian opposition: adoption of EU’s Nature Restoration Law ‘huge green success’
Benedek Jávor, EU advisor to the opposition Párbeszéd party, has called it a “huge green success” that the European Parliament approved the Nature Restoration Law on Wednesday.
Speaking at an online press conference on Thursday, Jávor said the regulation was a cornerstone of the European Green Deal, and of key importance to preserving natural habitats and biodiversity.
Párbeszéd politican Jávor said “the right-wing political forces of the European Parliament did everything” they could to thwart the adoption of the regulation. Hungary’s government earlier backed the proposal in the European Council, but Fidesz MEPs, along with Márton Gyöngyösi of Jobbik, voted against it on Wednesday, Jávor said.
Parliament passes 2024 budget, opposition slams it
Hungary’s parliament approved the government’s 2024 budget in a final vote on Friday. Opposition parties slammed the budget.
The budget was passed with 121 votes in favour and 44 against.
In the general debate, Finance Minister Mihály Varga qualified the budget as a “defence budget”, saying that in times of war Hungary must guarantee its security, protect families, pensions, jobs and maintain low utility costs.
The budget assumes a GDP growth rate of 4 percent, an annual average inflation rate of 6 percent and targets a fiscal deficit of 2.9 percent of GDP.
Central reserves amount to HUF 220 billion (EUR 573.1 million), and the cabinet aims to spend any additional revenues generated by higher than expected economic growth towards further reducing the public debt.
The budget targets a year-end public debt-to-GDP ratio of 66.7 percent.
It targets revenue of HUF 38,240 billion and expenditures of HUF 40,755 billion. The deficit target is HUF 2,514 billion.
The operating budget will have revenue and expenditures of HUF 34,150 billion.
The budget targets expenditures related to EU-funded developments of HUF 3,605 billion, while transfers from Brussels for those programmes are set to reach HUF 2,479 billion, with a deficit of HUF 1,125 billion.
Expenditures on debt servicing are targeted at HUF 3,144 billion, up from HUF 2,541 billion in the 2023 budget.
The budget allocates HUF 1,340 billion for the utilities protection fund as against this year’s HUF 2,579 billion, with HUF 917 billion to be earmarked for keeping household utility prices low. Central budget support for the fund is set at HUF 483 billion, while payments, contributions and windfall profit taxes from companies in the energy, mining, telecommunications, airline and pharmaceutical sectors will cover the rest of the fund’s expenditures.
The budget earmarks HUF 1,309 billion for the defence fund, up from this year’s HUF 842 billion, increasing Hungary’s total defence spending to more than NATO’s required 2 percent of GDP.
After submitting the draft budget to parliament, Varga said more than HUF 3,300 billion will be channeled to support families. More than HUF 3,430 billion are allocated for education and over HUF 6,500 billion are set aside for pensions.
A total of HUF 226 billion are allocated towards prenatal baby support compared with this year’s HUF 178 billion. A total of HUF 449 billion will be available for the payment of 13th monthly pensions and an additional HUF 20.5 billion will be released for the pension premium.
More than HUF 4,423 billion are allocated for the health insurance fund, with HUF 2,550 billion earmarked for curative and preventive care.
The budget allocates HUF 1,049 billion in support for local councils compared with HUF 968 billion this year, while their solidarity contributions will rise to HUF 307 billion from HUF 237 billion.
Opposition doesn’t agree
LMP deputy group leader Antal Csárdi told a press conference ahead of the vote that the bill had been submitted too early and its projections would be impossible to fulfil. He said the greatest problem was that it cemented the government’s energy policy which he described as ill-conceived. Debt servicing is to increase by HUF 1,777 billion (EUR 4.7 billion) from 2021 and the country’s energy bill will increase by HUF 8,000 billion, he added.
He said that ruling Fidesz-KDNP was planning to handle problems by austerity and debt increase, which would result in exhausting the resources needed for the future. He called for stopping “excessive support” to multinationals and using renewable energy instead of importing fossil fuels.
Párbeszéd co-leader Rebeka Szabó told an online press conference that the party group would vote against the bill because it involved austerity for people who are already in a difficult situation. At the same time, she said the bill failed to promote the “green transition” needed to enable Hungary to cope with the challenges caused by the climate crisis and the decrease in natural areas.
Opposition Párbeszéd: Revoke licences of battery factories causing accidents
The opposition Párbeszéd party is calling on the government to revoke the official licences of battery plants and processors where fires, accidents or deaths have been reported.
Addressing an online press conference on Friday, Tímea Szabó, Párbeszéd’s parliamentary group leader, called for the operations of the plants in question to be suspended and for a resumption of official authorisation procedures. Szabó added that her party would introduce stricter official checks in the sector.
She cited growing reports of accidents at battery plants in recent months, insisting that it was “clear that the government . doesn’t have regulations and conditions in place” that would guarantee safety and regulate the operations of such plants.
“The cabinet has neither the capacity nor the political will to convince these polluting factories to adhere to the minimum safety standards,” Szabó said.
Featured image: illustration
Demonstration held in Budapest for the dismantling of the ‘bailiff mafia’
A demonstration organised by the Szikra (Spark) Movement was held in front of the Budapest Municipal Court on Tuesday afternoon to demand the abolishment of the “bailiff mafia” and support for the “victims of debt collection procedures”.
Párbeszéd lawmaker András Jámbor, and a representative of Szikra, said the movement wanted a transparent debt collection regime, urging the introduction of a public electronic database.
He called for investigations aimed at uncovering potential abuses “since debt collection became a for-profit process”, saying that any abuses warranted compensation.
Jámbor called for an equality of rights that applied “not just to the powerful”, but also those who have found themselves in trouble because of the crisis.
He said a new debt collection law was needed because the existing debt collection regime “can’t be called fair or democratic”, arguing that bailiffs could be appointed for money.
Bernadett Bakos, a lawmaker of opposition LMP, said ruling Fidesz represented the “capitalist class” against the interests of the Hungarian people.
She said former chief bailiff György Schadl had “preyed on those stuck at the edge of a cliff, and made billions”.
The speakers and protesters walked from the court building to Parliament, where Jámbor said he will again submit his proposals aimed at reforming the debt collection regime.
Budapest public transport in danger? Transport company takes out huge loan
The Budapest assembly on Wednesday approved an agreement between Budapest public transport company BKK and K&H Bank, of a HUF 24 billion (EUR 63.9 million) loan, as part of the municipality’s “survival programme”.
The proposal, submitted by Deputy Mayor Ambrus Kiss, was carried with 17 votes in favour, 2 against and 9 abstentions.
The loan will ensure BKK’s operation between June and September, and will have to be paid back by September 18, the proposal said.
Budapest assembly adopts position on war
The Budapest assembly on Wednesday passed a position in connection with the war in Ukraine.
The proposal, submitted originally by the ruling Fidesz and the Christian Democrats before being amended with changes proposed by the left-wing parties, incorporates the European Council’s statement condemning “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”. It was passed with 17 votes in favour, 10 against and one abstention.
The original proposal was submitted by Zsolt Wintermantel, Fidesz’s group leader in the city assembly. The version approved on Wednesday included amendments submitted by the group leaders of the Democratic Coalition, the Socialist Party, Momentum and Párbeszéd.
Wintermantel told reporters after the vote that the municipal council’s left-wing majority led by Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony had rejected his party’s original pro-peace resolution, adding that the amendment proposals had turned the issue into a domestic political battle.