Airport lawsuit could cost Ft 70 billion

The government has included a one-off expense item of Ft 100 billion in this year's budget because of an ongoing lawsuit concerning the nationalisation of Ferihegy airport in 2001. Hungary could pay up to Ft 60-70 billion in compensation to Canada's Airport Development Corp. (ADC) in a lawsuit that Hungary is likely to lose, the reports say.

ADC went to the international courts in 2002, after the Orbán cabinet revoked a lease contract signed by the Horn cabinet in 1996. The deal granted ADC and a Hungarian state-owned company the right to operate the airport from December 1998 until 2010.

However, the Orbán government transferred ownership of the airport to then state-owned Budapest Airport by decree in December 2001, in effect nationalising the airport. The Canadian company later offered to settle the case out of court, but the Medgyessy cabinet turned that down.

The Ft 100 billion provision is seen to be enough to cover compensation costs plus compound interest.

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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