According to the MSZP, there should only be free beaches on Lake Balaton (plus, let's add free beer and eternal life), at least that's what Zsolt Molnár suggested in a Facebook video.
This is a remarkable demand from the – presumably the last – president of a party that previously sold out the Balaton coast, and then made it possible to build it with a law amendment.
A little reminder
In the early 2000s, the state and local government interests around the lake were bought by companies and groups of companies with murky ownership backgrounds, partly with foreign interests, which then implemented almost nothing of the promised developments and left behind only the debt. The Mészáros Group did not buy up the public property, not the Balaton, but the failed Balaton portfolio, thus bringing back the great Balaton development program from complete hopelessness.
The amendment to the law enabling the construction of the Balaton shore was not made during the time of the Orbán government, but in 2006 during the Gyurcsány government, with which they wanted to enable investments in the entire Balaton owned by the SCD Group, not half.
A big difference between the Balaton of today and the time before 2010 is that at that time the big entrepreneurs bankrupted their interests in Balaton: in the wake of empty promises, melting plans, the retro campsites of the old days, ghost holiday resorts overgrown with humps and hotels in need of renovation are left behind. Now Lake Balaton is being built, the accommodation facilities are being renovated one after the other and welcome a record number of Hungarian tourists, after which the companies operating the hotels and campsites pay the heavy tax forints into the Hungarian state coffers.
That is why they are stirring up and spreading false news about free beaches that have been abolished, because the motor of Hungarian tourism, the safest resort in Europe, is no longer the vision that remained here during the Kádár era and, since 2010, it is no longer the playground of its political heirs.
But why isn't it rummaging in Budapest's pocket?
Molnár says in the video that they contacted the mayors of the settlements near Lake Balaton by letter in order to find out on what basis the settlements decide whether to operate the coastal sections as free or paid beaches.
According to him, the economic situation of the settlements alone does not determine this, since, for example, Balatonfüred only has paid beaches, despite the fact that it is "one of the best-financed municipalities on the Balaton coast".
That is why they asked the mayors in the letter to make the paid beaches free of charge.
According to them, this can be made possible by the fact that "there are many other options" to collect the necessary revenues, "extorting Hungarian families is not the best solution to this issue".
It's a shame that he didn't send this letter to Gergely Karácsony, under whose leadership the capital is slowly being bankrupted, even though nothing is free in Budapest, let alone the beaches.
Lake Balaton currently welcomes vacationers with 48 free beaches and excellent water quality
Balatonakarattya: Gumirádli free beach
Balatonberény: Balatonberényi free beach (Csicsergő promenade free beach)
Balatonboglár: Beach between Bólya
Balatonboglár: Fiume beach
Balatonboglár: Jankovich-telep beach
Balatonboglár: Zoltán Kodály beach
Balatonboglár: Platán beach
Balatonboglár: Island beach
Balatonfenyves: Central free beach
Balatonfenyves: Csalogány-közi free beach
Balatonfenyves: Balatonfenyves-alsó free beach
Balatonfenyves: Feny beach
Balatonfenyves: Pozsony street free beach
Balatonföldvár: Dog-friendly spa
Balatonkenese: Alsórét free beach
Balatonkeresztúr: Vitrolás street free beach
Balatonlelle: Free beaches (West, Határ utcai, Szirom közi, Csöpi közi)
Balatonmáriafürdő: Free beaches
Balatonőszöd: Wooded beach
Balatonszárszó: Bendegúz square free beach
Balatonszárszó: Móricz street free beach
Balatonszemes: Vigadó free beach
Balatonszemes: Hullám út free beach
Balatonszemes: Central beach (free beach on Berzsenyi street)
Balatonvilágos: Alsórét free beach
Fonyód: Fürdő utca free beach
Fonyód: Árpád beach free beach
Fonyód: Bétalepi free beach
Fonyód: City free beach
Fonyód: Huszka street free beach
Fonyód: Báthori street free beach
Vorényés: Platán free beach
Siófok: Újhely beach
Siófok: Azüstpart free beach
Siófok: Aranyparti free beach
Siófok: Balatonszabadi - Sóstó free beach
Siófok: Szabadstrand for the train to Pest
Destination: Rigó utca free beach
Location: Juhász Gyula Street free beach (Beach Party)
Tihany: Gödrös free beach
Tihany: Somos free beach
Zamárdi: Nagystrand (Bácskai Street)
Zamárdi: Jegenye square free beach
Zamárdi: Táncsics Street free beach (T-Beach)
Zamárdi: Kiss Ernő utca free beach
Zamárdi: Keszeg street free beach
Zamárdi: Klapka street free beach
Zamárdi: Gyöngyvirág and Pipacs street free beach
Featured image: MTI/György Varga
