Hungarian opposition condemns government after withdrawal of Olympic bid

One day after the revocation of the Olympic bid for the 2024 Games, the Hungarian opposition parties and organizations continued to voice strong critics at the government for the lack of social debate and transparency related to the money already spent on the bidding process so far.

"One of my eyes weeping, the other laughing," Momentum leader Andras Fekete-Gyor said Thursday morning in front of journalists. "On one hand, we have gained success in winning against the Mayor of Budapest and the government, but on the other, we have lost an opportunity for discussion and debate," he added.

"To cover the country by thousands of billboards cheering for the Olympics is no debate. A debate is when you have two opinions, and you argue for each of them with facts," he explained.

"The debate would have allowed us to discuss on how we wanted the money to be spent in the next decade," he stressed.

Fekete-Gyor spoke a day after the Hungarian government announced a decision on a resolution to withdraw the candidacy from the 2024 Olympic Games in Budapest. Momentum gathered enough signatures last week to call for a referendum over the Hungarian Olympics, arguing that the country should spend money rather on healthcare and education.

As those opposed to the Budapest hosting of the event were in clear majority in the polls, the referendum campaign would have undermined the Hungarian bid, hence the Hungarian authorities decided to drop the bid because of the "lack of unity".

In 2015, the opposition parties were in majority for the bid, and the Budapest City Hall and the Hungarian parliament opted for the bid with an overwhelming majority of respectively 92% and 80%. But the lack of transparency and the probable escalation of the costs made them changed their minds.

The withdrawal of the bid is a blow for Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and the opposition parties made that very clear Thursday morning.

"The Fidesz (governing party) has cowardly ran away from a referendum," the opposition socialist party (MSZP) said in a statement.

"They do not have the courage to ask the people in a referendum about the Olympic Games, because they are terrified to lose," MSZP added.

The party also underlined that the Fidesz party already avoided two referendums, one regarding the compulsory rest days on Sundays for shops, the other about the selling of farming land.

Two other smaller opposition parties, DK (Democratic coalition) and Egyutt (Together), have vowed to examine to whom and how much money the government paid so far related to the revoked bid.

But political analyst Zoltan Cegledi argued that the government had no real issue but to back out from the hosting. "The withdrawal of the bid was a natural course of events after the success of the petition for referendum of Momentum, as a lost referendum would have been too much of a blow to the Fidesz party, one year ahead of the general elections," Cegledi explained Thursday morning on commercial television ATV.

"It would have been really difficult to defend the Olympics and say: our healthcare and common transports are crumbling, let's spend more money on the Olympics," Cegledi said. Endit