The Hungarian government sacked the president of the national meteorological agency (NMS) and her deputy on Monday, August 22, two days after the postponement for fear of bad weather of a large fireworks display planned in Budapest for the national holiday.
Kornelia Radics and Gyula Horvath were removed from their posts by Minister of Technology and Industry Laszlo Palkovics, who heads the organization, according to a statement from the ministry, which does not give an explanation.
Contacted by AFP, the government did not react immediately.
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This announcement comes the day after criticism by pro-government media against the weather agency, whose forecasts announcing thunderstorms and gusts of wind had caused the cancellation of the fireworks on Saturday.
“
They gave misleading information about the extent of the bad weather, which misled the operational team responsible for security
,” wrote the online newspaper Origo.
In 2006, the festivities were bereaved by a violent storm that killed five people and injured several hundred, sowing panic among more than a million people gathered to watch the spectacle on the banks of the Danube.
The NMS agency "
apologized
" on Sunday, citing "
a factor of uncertainty inherent in the profession
" of meteorologist.
In a reaction broadcast on the social network Facebook, the liberal Andras Fekete-Györ quipped: “
They couldn't produce the desired weather, they were fired.
No, it's not a dictatorship in Central Asia;
it is the Hungary of Fidesz
”, from the name of the party in power.
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The fireworks display, billed as "
the biggest in Europe
" to celebrate "
Hungary's millennial state
", has been rescheduled for August 27.
The opposition had asked in July for its outright cancellation, denouncing “
a useless waste of money
” at a time when the government of nationalist Viktor Orban demands efforts from citizens to overcome a difficult economic period.