The design plans for the student quarter – Photo: BFK

Plans and financial terms to become final in around 18 months' time, minister says

Gulyas: Referendum on Fudan University should be held when facts are known

The government backs the idea of consulting Budapest residents in a referendum on whether they want Fudan University to be located in the capital once the facts related to the investment are fully known, Gergely Gulyas, the prime minister's chief of staff said in an interview to media outlet Mandiner on Sunday.

Asked whether or not a Fudan University campus will be built in Budapest, Gulyas said the investment was not at a stage suitable for public debate. Once the plans and financial terms are clear in around 18 months’ time, then a public debate should take place, he added.

Responding the opposition’s claim that Fudan University was proof of the government’s commitment to the East in preference to the West, Gulyas said that as a NATO and EU member Hungary need not make declarations of allegiance to the West. “Despite ongoing disputes, they are our allies,” he said, adding that whereas Hungary formed part of the Western system of alliances it also sought equable relations with the world’s major powers, including China and Russia.

Meanwhile, commenting on the opposition’s primaries, Gulyas insisted that the leader of the leftist Democratic Coalition, Ferenc Gyurcsany “and his people”, were busy in the background striking deals as to who the candidate for prime minister and many individual constituency candidates should be. He said that if the opposition prevailed in the 2022 general election, Gergely Karacsony, the current mayor of Budapest, would likely end up being the premier and Gyurcsany’s wife, Klara Dobrev, would be his deputy.

One thought on “Gulyas: Referendum on Fudan University should be held when facts are known

  1. China will bring the Chinese people for construction and most of the Chinese workers will remain in the country illegally after the construction is completed. They will be protected by corrupt local government officials or politicians. They will create the China town – I am not sure if there is one already – and bring their (cheap) goods which will drive out local stores. This has been happening in many underdeveloped countries in Asia or Africa and should be stopped.

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