The last five years have been a very difficult period in the capital’s life – this was agreed by the representatives present at the last assembly of the cycle. Gergely Karácsony believed that their difficulties were caused by the government’s sarcastic politics, and according to Fidesz, it was the mayor’s campaign for prime minister. The report of the committee investigating the Bicske case was accepted at the general assembly, and the Budapest Climate Agency can be established.
Soon the people of Budapest (…) will decide what kind of control they want to give to their settlement – again according to a new electoral system. Since many of the current members of the capital assembly will not take part in the work of the new assembly, and there are even some who will not continue their work as mayors, let them not forget and not sweep under the carpet the sometimes passionate, sometimes personal discussions , I would like to thank everyone for their work”
Gergely Karácsony began.
As Énbudapestem also wrote, half a year before the municipal election, at the suggestion of Mi Hazánk, the Fidesz majority in the Parliament rewrote the election rules in the capital and reinstated the list election system that was abolished in 2014. According to the amendment, after the municipal election on June 9, the district mayors will not sit in the assembly, but representatives will be included in the board from a list. The general assembly will have 33 members, of which 32 will be elected based on the list election system, and the 33rd place will belong to the mayor.
According to forecasts and estimates, it is difficult to imagine that Fidesz will take over the general assembly, but the Dog Party and Mi Hazánk may enter the Capital General Assembly. Another interesting thing about the matter is that – as Gergely Karácsony also pointed out – the Fidesz members sitting in the farewell general assembly will probably disappear from the next cycle’s general assembly.
As Telex drew attention to, none of them is listed in the 15 places that can be said to be in the running. The best position went to Zsolt Wintermantel.
By the way, the experts said that by rewriting the election rules, Fidesz had only one goal: to cause confusion. According to election expert Róbert László, Fidesz may have thought that the system could break the majority in the general assembly lined up behind Gergely Karácsony.
The mayor said a few more words about the cycle behind them. According to him, there is no dispute between them that the past nearly five years have been one of the most difficult periods in Budapest’s history, they shared the fate of many big cities in the world, as the capital’s resilience was tested by global crises that had to be dealt with in most parts of the world. Europe hasn’t had an epidemic like this in a hundred years, and the energy market collapsed.
“All of this draws attention to the fact that the world order in which we live with the climate crisis, fossil energy dependence, and political hecticness does not show a secure future for our children,” explained Karácsony. According to him, these crises were compounded by a third crisis of a political nature, as the Budapest municipality also had to deal with the government’s sarcastic policy.
In the last four years, these three challenges had a direct financial impact of HUF 358 billion – this was taken away by the epidemic and the energy crisis, but the majority of the amount was still made up of government decisions that were meant to reduce the capital’s financial room for maneuver .
“What is the point of waging a political struggle against the nation’s capital should remain a poetic question,” Karácsony continued. The bottom line is that the city remained on its feet, that the leadership of the capital municipality was able to preserve the functionality and financial stability of the city by not choosing the path of austerity.
The 70 percent wage increase in Budapest implemented in recent years, for example, was not only good for preserving real wages, but also allowed for a modest improvement in salaries, since “we know for sure that quality public services can only be based on valued employees”.
According to Karácsony, no matter how difficult the five years behind them were, they have achievements they can be proud of: in recent decades, for example
- no one has carried out such extensive vehicle development in Budapest’s public transport as they have,
- he did not plant as many trees in the city as they did,
- it did not protect as many nature reserves as they did, however
- they completed the renovation of metro line 3, which was by no means an easy task in the shadow of the Ukrainian-Russian war,
- Budapest’s largest transport infrastructure was made barrier-free,
- your chain bridge has been renovated,
- Blaha Lujza square,
- a new seven-hectare park was created in Pünkösdfürdő, which won all the existing awards.
With active city diplomacy work, they also achieved that it can be developed significantly in the coming years with EU funds. Karácsony also highlighted that in recent years, they hope to have succeeded in making this city a more solidary and greener place, “perhaps more solidary and greener than it has ever been before”. Finally, he wished everyone a cultured campaign and meaningful discussions.
Zsolt Wintermantel, the faction leader of Fidesz, took the floor, who did not want to share in the elevated, festive mood, because, as he explained, life does not stand still. He agreed with Kárácson that they had a very tough five years behind them because, according to him, the mayor ran a campaign for prime minister.
He then took out an article circulating in the government press, according to which the renovated facade of the City Hall is dangerous, Wintermantel, but at the same time the suggestions of the article were categorically refuted by the deputy mayor Ambrus Kiss.
Kiss continued by saying that although he has many good memories connected to the assembly, one memory he definitely does not have is when “your people, with your assistance, accused me of selling the City Hall building”, which is part of the national wealth, so it is almost unsaleable. “(…) Without spoiling the mood of the closing general meeting, I think they should apologize for the action they took in this matter at the end of 2021.”
The assembly accepted the report of the investigation committee set up in the case of the ex-director of the children’s home in Bicske. We wrote about this in more detail here. The general assembly also supported the proposal to protect Józsefváros residents threatened with losing their homes. We wrote about the case here, and the proposal will be presented in a separate article soon.
On the other hand, there was less excitement at the general meeting when there was an unexpected discussion about the recent amendment of the Construction Regulations on the Danube, which deals with the use of quays. Gergely Karácsony ordered a five-minute break, after which the proposal was accepted.
The general assembly accepted the establishment of the Budapest Climate Agency, which we wrote about in more detail in this article. The Climate Agency’s most important task, Karácsony confirmed at a press conference, will be to support the energy efficiency modernization of Budapest’s housing stock with all possible means.
