The vote, held in an extraordinary session at the Kelenfold bus depot, saw 12 representatives support the final motion, while 10 Fidesz members abstained and Tisza Party delegates boycotted the vote.

The session followed a statement by Gergely Gulyás, head of the Prime Minister’s Office, that the government would assist Budapest only if the assembly declared insolvency, a demand rejected by the majority in the assembly. Instead, they adopted a Podmaniczky Movement amendment explicitly ruling out the nationalisation of city-owned companies.

Fidesz had proposed declaring insolvency, but the motion failed. The assembly’s resolution now demands direct talks to secure the capital’s operations without conceding to the government’s conditions.

At Monday’s extraordinary session, Karacsony reiterated that court rulings deemed the government’s “solidarity contributions” and fund withdrawals unconstitutional, while the State Audit Office confirmed Budapest could not maintain mandatory services if forced to comply.

“The government’s refusal to negotiate, unless we declare insolvency, is an unacceptable ultimatum,” he said, vowing to “hold them to their word” after ministers pledged to prevent the capital’s collapse.

“We won’t kneel and beg for money that’s rightfully ours by law,” he declared, warning that 27,000 public service workers risked unpaid wages in January without a deal.

Fidesz City Assembly group leader Alexandra Szentkirályi accused Karacsony of “political theater”, citing HUF 214 billion in reserves left by his predecessor Istvan Tarlos in 2019. She said this had been now replaced by HUF 170 bln in debt. She slammed “wasteful spending”, including HUF 51 bln on the Rákosrendező project, HUF 900 mln in bonuses and perks, and millions wasted on the “Budapest Brand” campaign.

Meanwhile, she insisted, the government had injected HUF 770 bln into the city for rail upgrades, trams, and health care.

“Tisza’s boycott proves they’re dodging responsibility, just as they are doing on the national stage,” she added.

Tibor Déri, a representative for the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK), called Tisza’s absence “cowardly”, given the stakes for 1.7 million residents and 27,000 city employees.

Ambrus Kiss, the city administration’s director, countered that not a single forint of current debt had been incurred by Karácsony’s team since the government had blocked borrowing. Without changes, he warned, Budapest faced a HUF 33 bln deficit in 2026, defaulting on a HUF 40 bln overdraft, and breaching fiscal laws — as business tax revenues would arrive only in March.

Podmaniczky Movement leader Dávid Vitézy dismissed the session as “a farce”, and he proposed withholding payments to oil and gas company Mol and to power utility companies to “force the government’s hand”, since shutting down public transport “would be their call”.