referendum

Minister trusts Paks nuclear plant upgrade to be completed by 2026

Budapest, May 8 (MTI) – János Süli, the minister without portfolio in charge of the Paks nuclear plant upgrade project, voiced confidence on Monday that the two new blocks would be completed and operational by 2026, as planned.

Süli added, however, that his team was “evaluating the possible impact on the final deadline” of delays in the preparations “caused by the European Commission’s investigation” into the project.

The minister stressed the government’s focus on ensuring that 40 percent of the contracts in the upgrade project should go to Hungarian companies, as stipulated by the general agreement, but also noted possible complications.

Süli said that the Russian loan to finance the project was made available, and the first payments could soon be made to the Russian general contractor.

He also announced that Attila Aszódi, who was earlier government commissioner in charge of the upgrade, will work with him as state secretary in the future.

LMP: Inviting referendum on Paks ‘obligation’ for Áder

In his capacity as the re-elected president of Hungary, it will be one of Janos Ader’s most important obligations to invite a referendum on the Paks nuclear power plant upgrade project, the green opposition LMP said on Monday.

Áder said last October that the right for a public vote is one of the most fundamental constitutional rights, LMP co-leader Bernadett Szél told a press conference held jointly with the party’s other co-leader Ákos Hadházy.

Hadházy said that Áder should have raised his voice in response to recent statements by politicians inciting to violence, including one by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

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Photo: MTI

Election committee approves referendum question on corruption, rejects nine others in Hungary

Daily News Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – Hungary’s National Election Committee (NVB) approved a referendum question concerning the statute of limitations for corruption cases and rejected nine others on various other topics on Tuesday.

The question certified by the NVB concerns raising the statute of limitations for corruption cases to at least 12 years.

The question submitted by former LMP lawmaker Gábor Vágó as a private individual reads: “Do you agree that the statute of limitations for the prosecution of crimes of corruption should be at least 12 years?”.

The NVB was split 5-5 on certifying the question which meant that the deciding vote had to be cast by the head of the committee. NVB chief András Patyi voted in favour of approving the question arguing that it falls under the authority of parliament.

The committee rejected nine other referendum questions on a number of subjects, including two on the introduction of term limits for the office of prime minister.

Both questions were submitted by Barnabás Kádár, a board member of the Momentum Movement, as a private individual.

The first question reads: “Do you agree that a person who has been elected prime minister by the National Assembly on at least two prior occasions should not be eligible for nomination for the office of prime minister?”. The other one reads: “Do you agree that Act XLIII of 2010 on central state administrative organs and on the legal status of government members and state secretaries should be amended to declare that a person who has been elected prime minister by the National Assembly on at least two prior occasions shall not be eligible for nomination for the office of prime minister?”.

Both questions were rejected on the grounds that the restrictions they concern would require amending the constitution.

LMP would require referendum before major state investment projects

Budapest, April 7 (MTI) – The green opposition LMP party has proposed that the opinion of voters should be sought in a referendum before the approval of any major state investment project. Bernadett Szél and Ákos Hadházy, co-leaders of the party, referred to the project to expand the Paks nuclear power plant as an example.

LMP will submit to parliament a draft proposal on Friday on making relevant changes to the constitution, they told a press conference.

Under the proposed changes, holding a referendum would be mandatory in the cases of partly or fully state-financed projects worth over 5 percent of GDP.

Answering a question, Szél said that the proposed changes would not contradict current stipulations that referendums cannot be held on issues affecting central budget. She insisted the proposed new rule would have a “stronger mandate”.

Photo: MTI

Election Committee rejects referendum initiatives concerning Paks upgrade

paks

Budapest, April 4 (MTI) – The National Election Committee on Tuesday threw out five referendum initiatives concerning the planned upgrade of the Paks nuclear plant.

Three of the initiatives had been proposed by green opposition LMP, while two by the Dialogue party.

The body rejected three of the proposed referendum questions saying that they were not clearly worded.

Concerning a fourth question, if voters agreed that the government should terminate its agreement with Russia on the upgrade project, the body said that such termination was a government competency rather than that of parliament, while a referendum can only be held on subjects controlled by parliament.

The last question, whether voters would support any nuclear projects in Hungary in the next 50 years, would impact Hungary’s international obligations, and as such, could not be approved, the body said.

LMP co-leader Bernadett Szél criticised the body for its attitude of “picking holes” to reject the initiatives, and insisted that the committee had passed politically motivated decisions. Szél said her party was determined to appeal to the supreme court and reword their questions in a way that the committee cannot reject them.

Photo: Daily News Hungary

Election Committee thwarts LMP referendum on Paks upgrade

Paks nuclear plant

Budapest, March 21 (MTI) – The National Election Committee on Tuesday rejected a referendum initiative aimed at asking voters about the planned upgrade of the Paks nuclear plant.

The initiative was submitted by József Gál, spokesman of the green LMP party, as a private individual.

The committee said the referendum questions were in conflict with Hungary’s obligations under international agreements and were not clearly worded.

Bernadett Szél, LMP’s co-chair and parliamentary group leader, said in reaction that the committee had “found excuses” not to approve the initiative. Such arguments like some of the questions being “too complicated” and voters could not decide are “ridiculous”, she said, and insisted that “the nuclear lobby has put its foot” in the national committee.

LMP will appeal against the committee decision to the Supreme Court, Szél said.

Photo: atomeromu.hu

LMP submits referendum initiatives to thwart Paks upgrade

paks

Budapest, March 2 (MTI) – The opposition LMP party has submitted referendum initiatives aimed at obstructing the planned upgrade of the Paks nuclear power plant.

LMP co-leader Bernadett Szél told a press conference on Thursday that the upgrade project must be put to a referendum so that voters have an opportunity to pass decision over the matter. She added that the constitution must also be changed if its provisions are in the way of a referendum, and noted that such modifications had been implemented before referendums on Hungary’s NATO and EU integration.

Ákos Hadházy, LMP’s other co-leader, said that the upgrade project could cost an estimated 6,000 billion forints (EUR 19.5bn), which he said equaled a contribution of 2 million forints from each Hungarian family. Voters are entitled to have a say in matters of such magnitude, while the government’s dialogue with the people had been “fictitious”, he insisted.

LMP has proposed the following questions to be put to voters:

“Do you agree that Hungary should not allow commissioning of nuclear plants with a combined capacity exceeding the capacity of the current blocks?”

“Do you agree that once the current nuclear blocks at Paks are shut down no electricity should be produced in any nuclear plant in Hungary?”

“Do you agree that parliament should pass a law stipulating that all nuclear capacities should be fully replaced by renewable energies from January 1, 2035?”

“Do you agree that parliament should oblige the government to terminate its agreement with Russia on cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy?”

“Do you agree that parliament should encode a ban on power production in nuclear plants after January 1, 2035?”

LMP: Paks upgrade ‘strategic issue’

paks

Budapest (MTI) – A referendum concerning a planned upgrade of Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant is “not just an opportunity but a must”, according to the green opposition LMP party.

Antal Csárdi, LMP’s member in Budapest’s municipal assembly, told MTI on Sunday that “the Paks upgrade is an even more serious issue than (Budapest’s) Olympic bid” because it also concerns the country’s sovereignty, let alone environmental and health risks.

“People have the right to decide if they want to see Hungary once again depending on Russia,” Csárdi said.

Csardi said his party would submit the referendum initiative to the National Election Office next week.

Green opposition to initiate referendum on Paks upgrade

atomic energy paks radioactive

Budapest, February 24 (MTI) – Green opposition LMP on Friday said it would initiate a national referendum on the upgrade of Hungary’s sole nuclear power plant in Paks.

The party will soon submit its referendum question to the National Election Committee for certification, LMP co-leader Bernadett Szél told a press conference.

She said the Momentum Movement’s signature drive for a referendum it had initiated on Budapest’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics had proved that the Hungarian people would not allow the government “to make certain decisions over their heads”.

Szél said the Paks upgrade needed to be put to a referendum because it was “an even riskier endeavour than staging an Olympics”.

LMP’s referendum question reads:

“Do you agree that nuclear power plants with greater electricity generating capacity than that of the nuclear power blocks currently operating in the country should not be made operational in Hungary?”

Szél said her party would use “any peaceful means necessary” to block the Paks investment.

Asked to comment on an earlier referendum initiative submitted in connection with the project by a Dialogue party MEP that had been turned down by the National Election Office on the ground that a referendum cannot be held in connection with issues governed by international accords, Szél said LMP would do everything it can to make sure their question passes.

She said the question they are preparing to submit would only be “the first step”, adding that if it is rejected, the party would keep submitting referendum questions until one is approved.

LMP board member Péter Ungár said the government had proved during the signature drive for the referendum on the Olympic bid that it “intends to govern against the people”. Ungar insisted that the Paks upgrade lacked majority support.

He said the reason behind LMP’s timing of its referendum initiative was that they could not expect the European Union to intervene in the project, as the European Commission is expected to close its last remaining infringement procedure against Hungary over the Paks upgrade next week.

The upgrade of the Paks plant is being financed by a loan from Russia.

Opposition parties: Missed opportunity to host Olympics government’s responsibility – UPDATE

Budapest, February 22 (MTI) – Any responsibility for missing the chance to host the 2024 Olympic Games will lie at the feet of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government, the opposition Jobbik party’s Budapest chief said on Wednesday.

“People have had enough — not of the idea of the Olympic Games but of the arrogant and conceited behaviour of the Orbán government”, György Szilágyi told a press briefing before a session of the Budapest assembly.

“People have had enough of the corrupt system first run by the Socialists and perfected by [governing] Fidesz,” he said. They could not bring themselves to believe the Olympics would hosted corruption-free, he added.

Photo: MTI

A responsible government would consider withdrawing the bid because this is the only way to preserve the chance of winning it at a later point, he added. Jobbik was the only party to suggest a referendum on the topic from the 2015 start of the Olympic bid, Marcell Tokody, a Budapest representative of the party, said.

The Socialist Party said the verification of signatures should be speeded up to ensure that a referendum can be held in April or May.

Socialist representative Csaba Horváth told a separate news conference before the assembly meeting that the party maintained its support for holding the Olympics in principle. At the same time, it appears that the cost of holding another event, the world aquatics championships, was likely to quadruple, he said, adding that given the current state of affairs, hosting the Olympics would probably bankrupt the country.

He insisted that Budapesters were fed up with “government corruption and the cabinet’s communications”.

Horváth also said the proposal for this year’s city budget indicated that the Budapest leadership was not up to its job, adding that it had allowed the central government to strip away its funding.

The Democratic Coalition said Hungary and Budapest were unfit to organise an Olympic event, and the money spent on hosting the Games should instead go to towards health care, education and lifting children out of poverty. DK Budapest lawmaker Erzsébet Gy Németh told journalists before the meeting that a referendum should be proclaimed on the issue as quickly as possible.

LMP said the city leadership had no choice other than to allow a referendum on the Olympics to go ahead. Local lawmaker Antal Csárdi told a news briefing ahead of the city assembly meeting that the governing Fidesz party should dispose of its habit of “ruling over the heads of the people” and ignoring their opinion. He said the government was trying to pass responsibility for any collapse of Hungary’s bid for the Games on to the opposition “in an exceptionally cynical way”.

The opposition Dialogue Party called on the Budapest Assembly to immediately call a referendum on the city’s bid to host the Olympics without waiting to verify the signatures submitted to hold a plebiscite. Dialogue always maintained that the bid should be underpinned by the results of a referendum, co-leader Gergely Karácsony told a press conference before the Budapest Assembly’s meeting.

At the assembly meeting later on, the government commissioner in charge of the bid said there would be no chance for Budapest to win its bid to host the 2024 Games without joining forces. The chance to host the Games has never been this close and it now seems to be vanishing, Balázs Fürjes said.

UPDATE

Budapest assembly calls on mayor to consult Olympic cttee, govt over 2024 bid

The Budapest assembly passed a decree on Wednesday calling on the mayor to hold talks with the Hungarian Olympic Committee and the government on the future of the city’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

István Tarlós should discuss whether there is any point in Budapest maintaining its bid in view of “broken national unity” on the issue, according to the decree.

National unity on the bid has been compromised by parties and politicians who bear responsibility for breaking the consensus regarding the initiative, the decree said. By changing their minds in hope of making short-term political gains, they have betrayed the cause of the Budapest Olympics, it added.

Photo: MTI

Budapest 2024 – Civil movement submits signatures for Olympics referendum

Budapest, February 17 (MTI) – The civil Momentum Movement on Friday said it submitted over a quarter million signatures to the Budapest election office to initiate a local referendum on Budapest’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Summer Games.

“Our message to [ruling] Fidesz, [Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán and [Budapest Mayor] István Tarlós is that it was a grave error on their part not to have sought out the public’s opinion on Hungary’s bid to host the Olympics,” András Fekete-Győr, the movement’s leader, told a press conference in front of the election office. Momentum will now do so in their place, he said, announcing that the movement had collected a total of 266,151 signatures.

He called on Orbán and Tarlós not to “stymie” the referendum, arguing that doing so would be “an act of cowardice” on their part. Getting in the way of the referendum would also be a “betrayal” of those who support Hungary’s Olympic bid, he added.

Momentum started collecting signatures on Jan. 18. It had 30 days to collect the minimum required 138,527 valid signatures.

Fekete-Győr submitted the local referendum initiative as a private individual. Momentum’s referendum question reads:

“Do you agree that the municipality of Budapest should withdraw its bid to host the 2024 Olypmic and Paralympic Games?”

Fekete-Győr called the movement’s 30-day signature drive “one of the most uplifting periods” in the history of Hungarian democracy.

“More than a quarter million signatures were collected so that the money pencilled in for the Olympics could instead be spent on modernising hospitals and schools,” he said.

Under Hungary’s referendum law, the Budapest election office will now have 45 days to review the signatures.

Fekete-Győr told MTI that Momentum’s representatives will exercise their right to be present when the signatures are being reviewed.

Momentum’s signature drive had support from several opposition parties.

Responding to MTI’s question, Fekete-Győr said green opposition LMP had collected 32,000-35,000 signatures, Együtt around 10,000 and the satirical Kétfarkú Kutya (Two-tailed Dog) party 4,000. The Socialist Party also chipped in with signatures, although Fekete-Győr could not give an exact number. Socialist MEP Tibor Szanyi turned in 170 signatures and Agnes Kunhalmi, the party’s Budapest leader, around 1,600-1,700. The Momentum Movement itself collected around 200,000 signatures, he said.

Earlier in the day, Budapest’s mayor said he would consider whether Budapest’s bid should be withdrawn if local residents supported a referendum on it.

Tarlós blamed the opposition for earlier supporting the Olympic plans then “backing out” and called the opposition’s attitude “treachery”.

“Those who had earlier expressed full support [for the Olympic bid] are now taking on the role of the protectors of the people…” Tarlós said.

Tarlós noted that in 2004, then Budapest Mayor Gábor Demszky along with several other politicians still active today had voiced “maximum support for the Olympics”.

He also noted that before the launch of the IOC’s Agenda 2020 programme aimed at making it cheaper to host the Games, he had been skeptical about Budapest’s ability to stage the event. But he said he had changed his opinion after the implementation of the Agenda 2020 scheme, arguing that it had fundamentally altered the conditions for hosting the Olympics.

Tarlós criticised opposition politicians supporting a referendum on Budapest’s Olympic bid for not having started collecting signatures for it when the capital approved the bid in 2015.

“There was zero indication a year-and-a-half ago that these politicians wanted a referendum,” he insisted.

The mayor said he would consult with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on the matter.

“I will neither deceive, nor circumvent the people” if a referendum is held on the Olympics, he insisted.

Zsolt Borkai, head of the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB), said in a statement that the opposition parties had weakened the capital’s chances of staging the 2024 Games. It is now up to the municipal council to decide whether Budapest intends to stay in the running to host the event, he said.

Photo: MTI

Opposition party plans rally against Budapest Olympics

Budapest, February 13 (MTI) – The opposition Dialogue Party will organise a demonstration to coincide with a visit to Budapest in May by an International Olympic Committee delegation.

Hungary is bidding to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Dialogue has invited the LMP and Egyutt opposition parties along with the satirical Ketfarku Kutya (Two-tailed Dog) party and the Momentum civil movement to join the rally, Bence Tordai, the party’s spokesman, told a news conference on Monday.

“We aim to deliver a final blow to the plan to host in Budapest the Olympic Games,” he said.

Dialogue will collect signatures to support Momentum’s campaign told hold a Budapest referendum on the Olympics, he added.

Budapest assembly – Budapest approves final 2024 Olympic locations, opposition slams mayor

Budapest, January 25 (MTI) – The Budapest assembly on Wednesday approved the final proposal on locations selected under the Hungarian capital’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics. Budapest’s mayor, István Tarlós, has failed to discuss proposals concerning renovating the third metro line or handling the capital’s current smog problem, a Socialist representative said.

Budapest assembly approves final 2024 Olympic locations

The proposal sponsored by Mayor István Tarlós and deputy Mayor Balázs Szeneczey includes converting temporarily the Kincsem Equestrian Park into a pentathlon complex and organising the mountain bike events at Testverhegy hills instead of the originally planned site of Hármashatárhegy.

The proposal was passed with 21 votes in favour, four against and four abstentions.

The assembly rejected a motion submitted by LMP representative Antal Csárdi on initiating the withdrawal of Budapest’s Olympic bid.

Photo: MTI

SOCIALISTS

Csaba Horváth told a news conference before a meeting of the assembly that smog caused the deaths of several thousand people each year and Tarlos had not considered a proposal among others to make public transport free of charge during periods of heavy smog.

He also noted that “two weeks after one day of snowfall”, many roads and pavements were still in a dangerous state because they had not been cleared of ice. Whereas in 2010, 130 vehicles were deployed to clear snow, only 75 have been put into action this year, he added.

On the topic of Budapest’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics, Horváth said “a small, power elite” are deciding arrangements for the Games, flying in the face of democratic principles, and the possible impacts and risks associated with hosting the event have not been presented to the public.

“We are not against the Olympics; we are against corruption and in favour of a referendum,” he said.

On the subject of the recent findings of Europe’s anti-fraud office OLAF into the circumstances surrounding construction of Budapest’s fourth metro line, Horvath said until the report is published, no one can know whether allegations made by the government are founded or not. He said the Socialists demand immediate publication of the OLAF report.

JOBBIK

Jobbik representative Marcell Tokody also urged making public transport free of charge during periods of heavy smog. Tokody told a press conference before the assembly meeting that Jobbik had already submitted a related motion. This would hand Budapest residents a “positive motivation” to choose public transport, a scheme that has proven successful in several cities in other countries, he said. Jobbik will call on the Budapest assembly to ask Budapest Mayor István Tarlós to start talks with the national government on making travel by train and distant bus services free of charge within the capital’s administrative districts.

 

Commenting on Budapest’s Olympic bid, Tokody said Jobbik upheld its “yes in principle” to supporting it. But he argued that a national referendum would have made sense before submitting the application. He said Jobbik will stop backing the bid if the proportion of Hungarians supporting it in a survey to be carried out by the Hungarian Olympic Committee is lower than 60-70 percent.

LMP

Opposition LMP representative Antal Csárdi said LMP supported making public transport free of charge during periods of smog and he called current regulations such as banning cars with certain number plates “uncontrollable and unviable”.

Commenting on the Budapest Olympics, he told a press conference that LMP had been the first to reject the bid, arguing against the excessive costs.

Democtratic Coalition

The Democratic Coalition’s (DK) Erzsébet Gy Németh also rejected the Budapest Olympics, arguing that the project would lead to Hungary’s bankruptcy. The budget earmarked for the 2024 Games would be better spent on education and health care, she told a press conference.

In connection with the OLAF report, she said DK it made no sense for the government not to release the document “unless it contains details detrimental to the government”.

Photo:  Brick Visual

 

Budapest mayor: Fine for metro 4 fraud could be lower than first projected

Budapest (MTI) – The fine Hungary is expected to receive from the European Commission for irregularities uncovered by Europe’s anti-fraud office OLAF in connection with Budapest’s fourth metro construction project could be lower than originally projected, Budapest’s mayor said on Friday.

The 76.6 billion forints (EUR 250m) initially projected by the government is “an extreme”, and is unlikely to be the actual fine, István Tarlós told a press conference. The fine will likely end up being “more like 59 billion”, he added.

 

The government has the full support of the capital and is prepared to assist in “any legal action aimed at reducing the sum that will have to be paid back”, Tarlós said. The EC has yet to issue a decision on the matter, Tarlós said.

Budapest public transport company BKV and DBR Metro Project have a case to get the EC to lower the fine, Tarlós said. Hungary “cannot miss out on this opportunity” and should challenge the fine regardless of how big it is, he added.

Commenting on an ongoing initiative to hold a local referendum in connection with Budapest’s bid to host the Olympic Games in 2024, Tarlós urged those “who love the city” not to support the initiative to drop the bid, arguing that the capital would benefit from staging the event.

Photo: MTI

LMP warns of environmental impacts of Budapest Olympics

Budapest, January 20 (MTI) – The cost of addressing environmental harm caused by the 2024 Budapest Olympics, if the event goes ahead, could add 1,000 billion forints (EUR 3.2bn) to the final tab of hosting the Games, opposition LMP deputy Benedek R. Sallai told a press conference on Friday.

Sallai, head of parliament’s sustainable development committee, insisted that the environmental impact of the Budapest games and the cost of eliminating the infrastructure no longer needed after the event had not been considered so far.

The cost to the environment is normally measured as a proportion of the infrastructure costs, he said.

He added that the budget has been underestimated, and most analysts think that the Olympics cannot be organised at less than 3,000 billion forints.

Hosting the Olympics is not exclusively a Budapest matter but concerns all Hungarians, Sallai said, arguing that the money used to finance the project and undo the environmental damage would put a strain on the country’s GDP.

He said he would propose that the parliamentary committee which he heads should hold a hearing concerning plans for Olympic locations as soon as possible, since environmentally protected and Natura 2000 sites would be under threat due to Hungary’s bid to host the Games.

LMP recently joined a civil initiative to collect signatures for a referendum to thwart Budapest’s Olympic bid.

Photo: MTI

Socialists, LMP support signature drive to thwart Budapest 2024 Olympic plans

Budapest, January 19 (MTI) – Both the opposition Socialist and LMP parties back an NGO initiative to collect signatures demanding Hungary drop its bid to host the Olympic Games in Budapest in 2024.

The Momentum Movement civil organisation wants voters to be asked in a local referendum:

“Do you agree that the municipality of Budapest should withdraw its bid to host the 2024 Olypmic and Paralympic Games?”

Socialist leader Gyula Molnár told a press conference on Thursday that Hungary was not ready to host the event. “There are more questions than answers” concerning the Olympic bid, he said.

The Socialists will launch their own campaign and they want a national plebiscite on the subject.

“The government should allow arguments for as well as those against to be presented,” Molnár said.

Csaba Horváth, the Socialist Party’s representative in the Budapest council, said that the Olympics would cost every family 2 million forints (EUR 6,500), which “the government will collect in taxes”. Voters should be informed about “both sides” of the argument in order to make a responsible decision, he said.

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LMP’s municipal representative Antal Csárdi said his party would set up stands at over 20 locations in Budapest to collect signatures in support of the initiative to drop the bid. Hosting the Olympics will cost an estimated 3,000 billion forints (EUR 9.7bn) for which 40 large hospitals could be built. Alternatively, new metro lines could be built, he said.

“A city where the renovation of a metro line and the regular operation of hospitals is hindered by financial difficulties must not host the Olympics,” Csárdi said.

Securing a decent standard of living for a generation could be compromised for “two weeks of pride”, he warned. “Let’s organise a decent weekday first, then we can consider the Olympics,” he said, adding that health, education, and housing were more important priorities.

The ruling Fidesz party said in a statement that the opposition lacked credibility on the issue, given that the Socialists had joined other parties in voting in favour of organising the 2024 event in the municipal assembly. “It is questionable as to what the real stance of the opposition is,” the statement said. “Again, it appears the opposition is interested in Hungary’s non-fulfilment and it is incapable of uniting behind the nation.”

The opposition party Jobbik has indicated that it favours a referendum on the issue, while the Dialogue party said in a statement today that it supports the civil group’s signature collection campaign.

Photo:  Brick Visual

Top court rejects referendum on Budapest 2024 Olympic Games bid

Budapest, December 14 (MTI) – The Kúria, Hungary’s supreme court, on Wednesday upheld a ruling by the National Election Committee (NVB) rejecting a referendum initiative on Hungary’s bid for the Olympics.

The referendum question submitted in September by Katalin Krisztina Erdélyi, a private individual, would have asked voters whether they wanted parliament to withdraw the 2016 law on organising the 33rd Olympic Games.

The NVB rejected the initiative in October on multiple grounds, including the one that the law in question includes clauses pertaining to parliament’s authority to set up organisations, which cannot be subject to a referendum. The committee also said approval of the referendum question would “give voters the false impression” that the withdrawal of the law on staging the Olympics would also bring with it the withdrawal of Hungary’s bid to host the Games.

Erdelyi appealed the NVB’s decision.

The Kúria annulled the part of the NVB’s ruling declaring that the question affects parliament’s authority to set up organisations, but declared the question “misleading” and unclear, upholding the NVB’s rejection of the referendum.

Photo: budapest2024.org

Election committee rejects referendum on Olympics

Orbán

Budapest (MTI) – The National Election Committee (NVB) on Wednesday rejected a referendum initiative on Hungary’s bid for the Olympics, submitted by a private individual on September 6.

The question that Katalin Krisztina Erdélyi wanted to be asked in a popular vote was whether voters wanted parliament to withdraw the 2016 law on organising the 33rd Olympic Games.

The question was rejected on several grounds, including that it targeted an office already set up with a budget, that it would affect international contracts through the Olympic symbols, that it would affect tax and duty laws and also that it was not phrased clearly. Hungary’s constitution bans holding referendums on issues affecting international contracts and tax matters.

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Opposition members of the committee disagreed with the rejection, but it was then approved in a vote of 9 to 2.

Photo: azso.net

Referendum – Demonstration held in front of Parliament

Budapest, October 1 (MTI) – A demonstration organisers named “See the human” was held by civil organisations “for a humane Hungary” in front of Parliament on Friday evening.

Speakers at the event emphasised the importance of peace, solidarity and providing help to those in need, as well as condemning discrimination against refugees.

Árpád Schilling, founder of independent theatre Krétakör, who organised the rally together with actor and director Róbert Alföldi, said many people in this country had been living amid fear and hate, even though they do not know those whom they fear and hate.

Schilling said the question being asked at the Oct. 2 quota referendum was “phony” and therefore the referendum was a “mockery of democracy”. He said Hungary should voluntarily show solidary with the refugees and other countries.

Budapest, 2016. szeptember 30. A Lásd meg az embert! címmel meghirdetett demonstráció a Kossuth téren 2016. szeptember 30-án. MTI Fotó: Koszticsák Szilárd

Representatives of the teachers’ movement Tanítanék said the most important questions relating to the referendum had not been raised because any discussion had been rendered impossible by the “hate campaign”.

Several of the speakers quoted from the Bible, from the teachings of Jesus, calling on people to open their hearts to those in need.

Participants at the event filled the area in front of the stage set up in Kossuth Square, near the main entrance of Parliament.

At the end of the demonstration, a collage entitled “Aleppo'”, created by several artists, was set on its way around the world. Its first stop will be Serbia. The event was joined by several the organisations, including the Helsinki Committee, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and Migration Aid.

Photos: MTI