As early as 2023, the Orbán government suggested that if the capital Budapest were to go bankrupt, it would be worth considering appointing a bankruptcy trustee.

Since then, the left-wing leadership of what is otherwise Hungary’s richest local government has been continuously engaged in a financial balancing act, constitutional lawyer Zoltán Lomnici Jr. tells Magyar Nemzet.

Lomnici added that the local bankruptcy trustee will monitor the local government’s administration and the performance of its duties and powers as required by law from the date of the initiation of the debt negotiations.

– The bankruptcy trustee has such extensive authority that commitments and payments can only be made with his or her countersignature. The local bankruptcy trustee can review the management of the municipality and inspect all documents related to the municipality’s assets, and participate in public and closed meetings of the council and committees with the right to a hearing, Lominic said.

Local newspapers constantly report that the city council is threatening to severely cut public transport services, which most people in Budapest rely on.

Curia, Hungary’s highest court, has overturned Budapest’s budget for 2025.

It should be noted that the mayor of Budapest – sociologist, political scientist and activist Gergely Karácsony – belongs to the LMP party. This party can be described as a left-wing climate party, and you’d think that cutting public transport wouldn’t come naturally to them.

This is why many locals believe that this is just a move to put pressure on Orbán’s government, which after all is not particularly popular in the capital.

But in a press release, Karácsony declares that Budapest could go bankrupt and that public transport could be halved in the second half of 2025.

Botond Sára of Orbán’s Fidesz party is mayor of the Budapest metropolitan area, which includes more rural areas, where Fidesz is stronger. He is critical of how the capital is governed.

Sára believes that the capital municipality’s budget is illegal because the municipality does not plan to pay a solidarity contribution of 51 billion forints (NOK 1.45 billion). According to the mayor, this decision must be included in Budapest’s deficit and the capital’s government must amend the budget accordingly.

– Based on the governor’s position, it can be assumed that it is only a matter of time before a debt negotiation procedure is initiated, given that this can be initiated by the local authority’s creditor and the local authority itself, based on the law, if the amount of debt due in the current year exceeds the amount or rate set out in the law on the central budget, says Lomnici.

What a bankruptcy would mean in practice for the citizens of Budapest is a little unclear, but it would probably lead to a reduction in public services. The most serious will probably be in the form of poorer health services and the aforementioned public transport services.

However, most people spoken to in the Hungarian capital believe that the Orbán government will intervene, which could boost Fidesz’s popularity in the Hungarian capital.

EU threatens «nuclear button»

The Hungarian government has other problems, however, and once again the EU is causing headaches for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government.

17 EU countries, including heavyweights such as France and Germany, in a joint letter ask Hungary to remove a number of laws that they believe violate the EU’s fundamental values.

In March, Hungary also passed a ban on pride and authorised police to use facial recognition. The ban is the latest in a series of laws against the LGBTQ community that have provoked outrage.

The Hungarian authorities defend the pride ban on the grounds that children must be protected from contact with homosexuality.

In addition, Hungary’s proposed new «transparency law» could be the nail in the coffin for press freedom in the country. According to the Hungarian authorities, the law is intended to crack a «foreign-funded propaganda network». (NTB-Bibiana Piene)

These are so-called non-governmental organisations that actively work against Hungary’s government and are funded by foreign powers that are strongly opposed to the Orbán government’s policies.

The European Commission is also seriously concerned about the rule of law situation in Hungary, says EU Justice and Democracy Commissioner Michael McGrath. He believes that the pride law is a violation of EU law.

The hearing is part of a so-called Article 7 process, often referred to as the «EU’s nuclear button», which was initiated against Hungary back in 2018. This is the eighth time that Hungary has had to stand trial in a separate hearing in the EU Council of Ministers.

In the worst case scenario, Hungary could lose its right to vote in the EU, but this would require all other EU countries to vote in favour of such a drastic measure. For now, it seems that Slovakia will support Hungary in this matter.

The EU should perhaps focus on all the massive problems that exist in its own countries, which many believe are due to mass immigration, economic crisis, climate hysteria with subsequent energy crisis and woke ideology.

There are, of course, many good reasons to criticise Hungary and some of Orbán’s policies. But Budapest is Europe’s safest city for both women and Jews, and as such should be seen as a role model, at least in these two areas.