Opposition-led capital eyes vetoing world championship over Chinese university

Budapest city council will look at withdrawing the capital’s consent for the World Athletics Championship on Wednesday as opposition mayor Gergely Karácsony claimed Orbán’s government broke the Student City deal with plans for a Chinese university campus.

Green mayor Gergely Karácsony announced Thursday he will push for vetoing the biennial competition scheduled to take place in Budapest in 2023, EURACTIV’s media partner Telex reported.

Karácsony is making good on threats he made in spring to withdraw the opposition-led capital’s consent to host the event for which the government is making considerable investments, including a roughly half-billion euro athletics stadium already under construction.

The Green mayor argues the city’s consent hinged on the promise of the government to erect an 8,000-place student housing project, which the executive broke by deciding to build a new prestigious Chinese university campus partly on land meant for the Student City.

The Fudan University campus, which surveys have shown has been met with disapproval by capital dwellers, would be built by a pre-approved Chinese construction firm, with Chinese workers and a €1.25 billion (HUF 450 billion) Chinese loan, an investigation by Direkt36 previously revealed.

Telex reported on Friday that the Innovation and Technology ministry has already started the registration process for a new foundation responsible for the preparation of impact studies and plans for the future campus.

However, Karácsony’s sudden announcement last week, which according to Telex sources was not coordinated with other parties, has resulted in tensions in the opposition coalition that is gearing up for primaries this fall.

Krisztina Baranyi, mayor of Ferencváros, the district that would be home to both the contentious educational facilities and the new athletics stadium, told Telex the Fudan issue should be decided by referendum, and it may be premature to fire the strongest weapon, the veto before the result is known.

Meanwhile, other opposition-led districts are worried the government may retaliate by back-pedalling other planned investment projects in the capital, such as the improvement of health services.