Hungary's Orbán: This was a "murder of a dream"

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What happened to Budapest’s bid to host the Olympic Games in 2024 was “dream murder", Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public radio MR1 on Friday. After a political movement and leftist and opposition parties “murdered the dream" by collecting enough signatures for a referendum to be held on the matter, Orbán said they had to make a decision to withdraw Budapest’s application to save Hungary from the shame.
In order to win in this bidding and become the host of the 2024 Olympics Hungary would have needed unity. That is why in the two other (remaining) candidate cities, Paris and Los Angeles, they hold no referendum on the issue, Orbán said.

He thinks that if Hungary held a referendum, Budapest’s candidacy would have been squashed at the final vote and they did not want to subject the country to this risk.

He labelled the Momentum Movement, which collected over 260,000 signatures for a referendum, as the new SZDSZ (the Free Democrats), and he thinks a coalition between SZDSZ and opposition Socialist Party (MSZP) can be expected.

Asked whether he thinks Hungary will host the Olympic Games during his lifetime, he replied that according to modern medicine, life expectancy keeps rising therefore “I have a good chance of that".

As regards the public work schemes, the efficiency of which is disputed, he noted that public works will always be necessary, the question is the size. There are always several tens of thousands of people who cannot find jobs on the primary labour market, he added.
 

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