tirsdag 18. mai 2021

It’s over! Chinese Fudan project is off the table, says Budapest mayor

Budapest’s leadership opposes the construction of a campus of China’s Fudan University in the city’s 9th district, Gergely Karácsony, the city’s mayor, told a press conference on Monday. Karácsony and Krisztina Baranyi, the mayor of the 9th district, earlier in the day met László Palkovics, the minister of innovation and technology, for talks on the project.

Following talks with the minister, the city leadership can say it is “particularly” opposed to the construction of the campus, especially in the area meant to house a student quarter, Karácsony said. The mayor described the meeting with Palkovics as “long and unproductive”. He said the government had so far been reluctant to share its plans for the university campus, but today it had been revealed that Karácsony noted that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had said on the night of the 2019 local government elections that the government accepted the outcome of the vote, and vowed not to launch any investment projects in Budapest which the city’s leadership opposed.