On 23 April, the Republikon Institute held its conference "Growing Under the Burden - Good Practices in Local Government", where Budapest mayors discussed the challenges of the past cycle as the 2024 municipal elections approached. The main focus was on what are the policy best practices that have helped the capital to function effectively in the face of Covid, the economic crisis and the reduction of local government powers. The conference started with an introductory presentation by Márton Schlanger, researcher at the Republikon Institute, who presented the results of the Institute's large-scale research on Budapest.
Opening speech by Gábor Horn (Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Republikon Institute)
Mayor's Panel
Mayor of Budavár Municipality, Márta V. Naszályi: According to her, there were three major issues that they faced difficulties in 2019 when they took over the district from the Fidesz leadership. The first one was caused by shortcomings in the functioning of the municipality and the involvement of the people living in the district (e.g. the lack of a district website and its development). The second was the housing and energy crisis and the exodus from the district, an area where they were able to achieve the most visible results, for example by setting up the municipal housing agency and launching a modernisation programme. They inherited the municipality without having an inventory of assets, and created one. The third major set of problems was green urban development. During smaller projects, they have opened and/or renovated medical clinics.
She said, the cooperation between the capital and the districts is a good thing. She also observes good practices from abroad and adapts them. In the first district, it's a big burden that everyone considers Buda Castle as common property - on the day of Kitörés Napja in mid-February, Buda Castle became a very undignified give-and-take area - with the Ostrom Event Series, they want to show what really happened and to remember the victims. They are linked to the Strong Cities Network, an American initiative where mayors can talk to each other about how to deal with and prevent human trauma in their communities and share good practices.
The district also provides services such as funding school psychologists, developmental teachers and teaching assistants in district schools, or maintaining free public toilets. Another important district service during Covid was the basic income for crisis management, which was introduced on the basis of the Zugló model - a guaranteed minimum income that families could receive during the coronavirus epidemic. In other countries, the state paid out this income, but here the municipality paid out 100,000 forints over 3 months to families.
Gergely Karácsony, Mayor of Budapest: he stressed that a lot of achievements have been made in the last five years, but he said that these are things that should have been done 10-20 years ago by the previous city government. They have inherited a very big debt and they have worked off a lot. The municipalities have had to survive a lot, and he believes that this has political significance. As a result of the Covid crisis, the government was faced with problems that could no longer be solved in the context of the economic boom, but had to be dealt with at government level. Meanwhile, the government did not see local authorities as partners, despite the fact that it is in the interest and vocation of every mayor to serve the local population. Under Covid, the government froze, made blunders and created a rivalry, at the end of which the municipal sector was seen by the government as a "foreign body in the NER machine" - hence the cuts in resources. The pressure of political malice was much harder to deal with in a situation where people were being supported to survive the crisis, but government decrees were being published almost every day taking away resources and humiliating local government, not to mention government propaganda. All in all, the direct financial impact of the capital municipality (Covid, energy crisis, government cuts) has taken a total of HUF 358 billion from the coffers. 225 billion of this is the direct effect of government decisions.
On the positive side, he pointed out that he was proud that diesel buses are no longer used in the capital (but added that it was outrageous that such conditions prevailed in 2019) and that low-floor buses are now used. He is proud of the BudapestGo app, the electronic ticketing system, the decent public work programme and the parks - but considers this to be a 0 km stone. He believes that they are trying to transform the capital into the 21st century.
He stressed that big cities around the world are very similar - there are lessons to be learnt from others, such as examples of mask-wearing and epidemic management. Urban governance has a knowledge base from which to draw policy solutions - such a successful adaptation is the Statwerke model, a German model of urban governance. It is based on bringing together urban utilities into one big structure - overall, it provides a holistic view. This has saved on city management and created better performing companies with less money.
Csaba Horváth, Mayor of Zugló: emphasized that together with his predecessor they were able to develop Zugló in excellent cooperation. The capital had a lot of debts towards Zugló, which were repaid by building roads, renovating Rákospatak, and by a tree planting programme. Smaller, bigger issues include the renovation of surgeries and the construction of a community garden. He says the most important thing for livability and public safety is for people to accept, respect and love each other. Creating a green public environment also wants to promote this friendliness, community building and satisfaction.
As for good practices in policy, he said that the social model of Zugló is the strongest in the city, and they have taken it further, including the social safety net, all steps that make Zugló a better place and can be example for others. He talked about a programme they had a year and a half ago, where they wanted to curb and transform domestic violence by giving examples of famous sportsmen and public figures. As a result, there were more reports to the police and more requests for restraining orders. In addition, the Scandinavian model of pavement construction - whereby pavements in green areas are not designed on the basis of engineering, but are paved over where people walk.
Péter Niedermüller, Mayor of Erzsébetváros: He didn't want to compete to see who took over the district in the worst condition in 2019, but he thinks that Erzsébetváros is in the top two or is the one on the top. There was no inventory of assets in Erzsébetváros, nor a person who could tell how many municipal buildings there were in the district, how many of them were habitable, how many were not. It was discovered that there were 600 of the latter. They also did not know the social composition of the population: according to the 2022 KHS measurements, Erzsébetváros ranks 19th out of 23 districts in terms of average per capita income, i.e. there are many families in poverty. The attitude of the previous administration was to do nothing, so that there would be no scandal. In his view, an opposition municipality should also have political functions, and should show locally what alternatives to government exist. They can show this even at national level. This has had an effect: when the campaign started, the local Fidesz organisation published a leaflet trying to discredit Niedermüller because of his experience in Brussels - but what he learned in Brussels is very important to him - that it is an inclusive, open, solidary community, and they are working to achieve this too in the district.
He is proud of four policy areas: the first is the overhaul of the social assistance system, which is based on prevention, the second is the renovation of housing, with 250 out of 600 renovated, and the launch of the "First Key" programme to help young people get housing. The third aspect is the landscaping programme, on sustainability and green policy he believes that it requires a different approach, energy efficiency is needed. The fourth area is the regulation of the party district, where progress has been made.
He would like to redefine the district, with cultural activities, sustainable tourism, attracting young people, IT and innovation. This is what they want to emphasise in the campaign.
He sees excessive tourism as a problem at European level. Regarding Erzsébetváros, he sees more foreign practices that could be adopted. One is the transformation of the cultural offer, and another is the attempt to spread out the 800 catering units in the district in cooperation with the capital. He also believes that something must be done about the development of the social support system, by creating perspectives, cooperation, and appropriate housing and social policies. In his opinion, it would be possible to work together with other districts and the capital on these issues.
Experts panel
Former Interior Minister Mónika Lamperth said that she had spent her whole career in local government, so she had a good understanding of how the sector works. She believes that crisis management can only be successful with clear ideas and the right expertise. He said that local authorities should always plan ahead and build and develop sensibly. He also stressed that there are always resources that can be transferred in a budget to deal with difficult situations. An exception to this is currently the capital, for political reasons. He also pointed out that public money is not for business. It should be used to provide a service to local authorities and to carry out their tasks. He stressed the importance of a real social debate and the broad involvement of NGOs in social services.
Dávid Király, head of the workshop of the Republikon Institute Budapest, spoke about the fact that emergency situations can also help local governments to deal with crises. In his opinion, those who became mayors or council members in 2019 have already faced a much more difficult local government system than before. He stressed that government cutbacks have left many municipalities unable or unable to deliver on their plans promised in 2019. So progress has also been limited. According to him, the responsible municipalities, seeing the trends, had already planned with much lower business tax revenues. They were therefore less affected by the lack of resources. He considers organised civil society to be easy to involve in local government affairs, but the general public less so.
Petra Reszkető, a researcher at the Budapest Institute, also spoke about the ability of local governments to prepare for crises. She believes that collaborative governance is needed. So cooperation between municipalities and government is desirable. He does not see any advantage in centralising education. However, he is pleased to see that nursery and kindergarten care are still under municipal responsibility. He considers long-term developments and projects (e.g. in the field of education) to be important. However, their effects often extend beyond a single cycle, making it difficult to achieve results in the short term. In his view, the effectiveness of civic participation also depends to a large extent on the attitude of the municipalities concerned.
Ferenc Gegesy, the former mayor of the IX district, believes that the capital's districts and cities have always had money and will continue to have it. And he sees the decline in state funding as a long-standing trend. He also believes that the revenue from business tax in recent years has made up for the loss of public resources. He believes that local authorities should manage their resources sparingly and use them in a focused way. He sees crises more as unusual tasks or unexpected situations. He believes that the primary task of local authorities is to help families in difficult situations. Rather than favouring those who are already better off. He stressed that people should be listened to and that if someone has a good idea, they should be encouraged to implement it.
Republikon is funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed at the event do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. They are not the responsibility of the European Union or the organisation providing the funding.
