Hosting the Budapest Olympics offers the capital city an opportunity for historic city development, Mayor Gergely Karácsony said at a press conference at City Hall on Friday, reports Telex.
The sports infrastructure is practically complete, but the city infrastructure is not yet ready for Budapest to host the Olympic Games, he said, adding that the people of Budapest will also have to be asked whether they want the Olympics to be held in the capital.
Karácsony says that at this week’s General Assembly meeting, he will be recommending discussions with the representatives of the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) and the Hungarian Paralympic Committee (MPB).
“The General Assembly should not decide whether it wants the Olympics, but whether it wants to cooperate with the MOB to examine the possibility of this,” the mayor said.
He also said that to move forward with any plan, “the relationship between the Metropolitan Municipality and the government must be put on a new foundation.” This includes Orbán’s government following through on promises it made to the capital when organizing the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, such as the Student City, which has not yet been implemented, and the Healthy Budapest program, for which the capital received only half of the promised subsidies.
Karácsony is hoping the government will see fit to appoint a minister responsible for Budapest affairs with whom it is possible to consult.
According to Karácsony, Budapest could benefit from hosting an Olympics in a variety of ways. For example, an Olympic village could be used even after the Games to alleviate the capital’s housing crisis, while sustainable infrastructure developments necessary for hosting the Olympics would be good for the city.
“For us city leaders, the Olympics are a means to a greater end,” he said.
It was also reported by ATV that Slovakia has initiated consultations with Hungary on the possibility of creating a sports infrastructure network for the Summer Olympics. Karácsony said that back in 2019 he had already discussed such possibilities with Austria and Croatia.
“This can even be extended to Austria or Croatia, there are sports facilities that do not exist in Hungary, for example, there is no beach, or there are special things that are difficult to implement in Hungary. I already proposed a Budapest-Pozsony-Vienna cooperation in 2019 in connection with the Olympics,” said the mayor.
If the government, the capital, the MOB and the MPB can present the right concept, a referendum would have to be held to ask the people of Budapest if they want the Olympics in their city, Mayor Karácsony clarified.
Back in 2017, the young liberal Momentum party rose to fame under its leader András Fekete-Győr for knocking down PM Orbán’s dream of hosting the Olympics with its NOlimpia campaign. Gathering more than 260,000 signatures from residents of Budapest, the party sought to force a referendum on hosting the Olympic Games, arguing that the country had other far more important problems to address and the people should have their say. Instead of holding a referendum, the government pulled its bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics, which eventually went to Paris.
