Asked about the Public Procurement Authority’s recent rejection of the tender documents for the renovation of Budapest’s iconic Chain Bridge, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said the laws in effect made it clear that a maximum of eight years’ worth of references from potential bidders could be taken into consideration. This law has been in effect since 2013, he said, adding that the Socialist governments between 2002 and 2010 maximised the reference period at five years which the Fidesz-led government then extended to eight. The PM’s Office chief said it was “irresponsible” of Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony to look for “certain economic interests” behind the authority’s decision, adding that the mayor should “revert to his past calm self” and apologise to the government for suggesting that the authority wanted to favour certain bidders by rejecting the documents.
Commenting on the suggestion that Karácsony believed the government was “out to get him”, Gulyás said all the “independent Public Procurement Authority” was trying to get the mayor to do was to correct the reference period in the tender. Gulyás said Karácsony wanted the project to be carried out under regulations that “favour him more” than the ones István Tarlós, his predecessor, had agreed to. But despite all this, Gulyás said, the government wants to help the city council so that Chain Bridge could be renovated as quickly as possible.
Asked about a television interview in which Karácsony had not given a straightforward answer as to whether the city council would be able to fill staff vacancies at a retirement home on Pesti Road, in Budapest’s eastern suburbs, Gulyás said if the municipal council was incapable of financing the home it should hand it over to an entity that was.
Meanwhile, asked why Hungary’s University of Theatre and Film Arts had not been allowed to nominate any members to the board of trustees of the foundation that operates it, Gulyás said the matter of who gets to nominate members was regulated by law, adding that the nominations had been consistent with the law. Gulyás said the board of trustees should be given a fair chance to carry out its responsibilities, adding that it would be easier to see in a year’s time whether the board had managed the university well.
As regards the recent purchase by the Hungarian state of a majority stake in the Mátrai Erőmű power plant, Gulyás said the government had already wanted to acquire the plant three years ago but its German owner at the time had refused to sell it. He noted that the long-term goal was to make the power plant carbon-neutral. On another subject, he said the digital freedom working group set up by the justice minister earlier this year was also dealing with matters regarding the regulation of social media giant Facebook, adding that it would be worth implementing certain uniform European regulations in this area.
Asked if the government had any plans to protect journalists after media outlets turned up at several journalists’ homes in the recent period, Gulyás said everyone had a right to privacy regardless of their profession. He said journalists had the right to take legal action if their privacy rights are violated by someone turning up at their home, adding at the same time this was not related to the right to the freedom of assembly. The privacy of journalists is protected by law, he said, adding that the government never believed in making distinctions between public figures and non-public figures when it came to the right to privacy.