The Hungarian government has fired the head of the national weather service and his deputy, two days after a fireworks display to celebrate a national holiday was delayed due to fears of storms.
Technology Minister Lazlo Palkovics, who oversees the National Meteorological Service (NMS), relieved President Kornelia Radics and her deputy Gyula Horvath of their duties on Monday, but did not give a reason. The ministry did not immediately return AFP’s call for further details.
The NMS had predicted thunderstorms and gusty winds in the capital, Budapest, leading to the cancellation of Saturday’s fireworks. However, the storms lost the capital.
The NMS agency apologized on Sunday, citing “a factor of uncertainty inherent in the profession”.
Fireworks show along the banks of the Danube billed as ‘Europe’s biggest’ to celebrate ‘Hungary’s millennial state’ on St Stephen’s Day but has been controversial in some sectors, which means that forecasting has become something of a political lightning rod.
The opposition called for the show to be cancelled, denouncing it as “a useless waste of money” at a time when the country’s economy is struggling and Ukraine is at war. A petition calling for a cancellation garnered nearly 200,000 signatures.
On Sunday, official media criticized NMS for its prognosis. Online newspaper Origo accused the agency of giving “misleading information about the extent of the bad weather, which misled the operations team responsible for safety”.
In a reaction published on the social network Facebook, liberal Andras Fekete-Gyor joked: “They couldn’t produce the desired time, they were fired. No, it’s not a dictatorship in Central Asia, it’s Hungary [ruling party] Fidesz,” he said.
The show has been rescheduled for later this week.
In 2006, the annual festivities were marred by a violent storm that killed five people and injured hundreds, causing widespread panic among more than a million people who had gathered to watch of the Danube
With Agence France-Presse