Karácsony: We will no longer finance the government, we will iron out our debts

2023-04-19 11:19:21

The austerity measures of recent years have made the capital’s financial situation significantly more difficult, but a new development is that without intervention the capital will not be able to make it through this year, he said. Gregory Christmas at a press conference. For this, a plan was created to help the city survive.

According to Karácsony, the basic provision was that public services should operate in the same way, for example trams should run in the same way. According to Karácsony, the Capital Assembly will discuss the package of proposals in closed session.

The mayor told how he thinks they got to this point. For starters, there were the problems caused by the coronavirus epidemic, which, according to him, the capital handled well, but also had financial effects. Then came the energy crisis, which, according to him, the capital also handled well. This was mostly due to reasonableness and waiting for the conclusion of the contract.

But there is a crisis that they cannot and do not want to handle. According to Karácsony, this crisis is an internal political one, and it is about the Hungarian government’s commitment to an anti-capital policy.

According to him, the most important restrictions are that István Tarlós paid five billion forints in solidarity tax to the government in his last year, but this joke is not worthy of this name. Now, however, he has to pay more than fifty billion forints. According to him, under Tarlós, the capital received an extra twenty billion forints from the state for operation, but in 2023 the capital will send more than twenty billion forints to the Hungarian state, this trend has reversed.

According to the mayor, steps are therefore necessary:

• Liquidity management is being set up at companies in the capital, and HUF 15 billion will be regrouped in expenses.
• In order to preserve the operational capacity of public transport, they will take out a HUF 24 billion mid-year loan, which will be repaid in September.
• Loans related to developments are rescheduled.
• And the Budapest self-government is suspending further funding from the government. They will iron out their receivables, which they should have received earlier, said Karácsony. Such would be the utility subsidy and the government support promised for the renovation of the Chain Bridge.
• They want to take out a development loan of HUF 16.6 billion, but this requires government permission, which they will ask for.
• They are asking for HUF 11 billion in support from the government for the purchase of Solaris trolleys.
• They increase the previous energy savings.
• Large taxpayers are asked to pay business tax in advance.

Of course, we are aware of the concept of debt collection, but I would like to say in advance that there will be no money in our account. We will meet in court, at least it will be clear whether there is still a rule of law in Hungary.

– said Karácsony, when asked whether the government can request enforcement against Budapest if it does not pay the amounts that the government is asking for.

According to Karácsony, Budapest does not only belong to those who live here, it is a capital. They would also like to give more to the country, but the condition for this is that they now take less from them. According to him, this treatment is not worthy of Budapest.

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