Hungary hints at delay to Chinese campus plan after weekend protests
- Viktor Orban’s government suggests Budapest residents may vote in 2023 referendum to decide future of Fudan University satellite
- Controversial project sparked weekend protests in the Hungarian capital
Weekly news magazine Mandiner reported that Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government was ready to submit a plan for the project to Budapest voters in 2023, effectively diffusing the issue ahead of the tightest parliamentary election in more than a decade.
According to a transcript of the magazine’s interview with cabinet minister Gergely Gulyas published on Sunday, the government backs holding a referendum in the capital in about 18 months on the planned satellite campus for Shanghai’s Fudan University.
“We don’t want to do something ‘good’ against the will of the people, including the residents of Budapest,” Gulyas said. “That’s why we support that, once the conditions of the investment are known, that Budapest voters decide whether they want a Fudan University.”
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Thousands march in Budapest against plan to build campus for China’s Fudan University
The project, which polls showed is widely opposed by Budapest residents, has become a major issue in the 2022 parliamentary election.