Parliament gears up for revamp its surroundings

Through means of freedom of information legislation atlatszo.hu obtained and published a copy of a preparatory study on the planned reshaping of Kossuth tér in Budapest, a square being home to Hungary’s parliament building. Though the focus of study seems to revolve around the legal status of Kossuth tér property with regard to construction permissions, and so far no concrete construction plans has been made public, the local municipality of the fifth district of Budapest nevertheless already permitted chopping down some 76 trees at a park on the north side of the building. Though authorities have pointed out the possibility of a trade-off as a planned underground parking garage will obsolete a parking lot on the square freeing up space to plant new trees, green leftist opposition party LMP and environmental NGO Védegylet both voiced dissent. The construction project will cost 2.4 billion HUF and will be exempt from public procurement rules after a recent decision of the Hungarian Parliament’s national security committee.