Budapest vs government conflict enters détente phase?

Tibor Navracsics, the minister for regional development and the uptake of EU funds, on Monday met Gergely Karacsony, the mayor of Budapest, and they agreed on re-estabilshing the regional development forum for Budapest and Pest County. At a press conference after the meeting, Navracsics said he hoped their dialogue “would bear fruit in the majority of cases”.

“But there will be conflicts from time to time as well, because there will be instances where interests of the capital and the government do not coincide,” Navracsics added. He said that hopefully the regional development forum for Budapest and the surrounding Pest County would be re-established, following a meeting of Pest County mayors last week at which a related proposal was made.

Navracsics said he and Karácsony reviewed ongoing and planned operative programmes and discussed possible ways to cooperate on their implementation. They also discussed the possibility of jointly implementing future projects that would serve the interests of both the government and the city of Budapest, the minister said.

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Karácsony told the same press conference that Monday’s meeting could signal the beginning of a good working relationship between partners.

“The municipality of Budapest has an interest in ensuring that Hungary can access the EU funds

it is entitled to and that the debate over the rule of law in Hungary can be settled in a satisfactory manner,” the mayor said.