countryside politics

February 09, 2010, 01:50 CET

New Hungarian village seeking mayor, must have experience and degree

A committee that succeeded in making a district of Mosonmagyaróvár into a separate settlement has placed a classified ad in a newspaper looking for a mayor, Népszabadság reported after picking up the story from local daily Kisalföld. Hungary's newest settlement,... [read complete entry]

December 22, 2009, 10:19 CET

Ministry says construction of NATO site to continue despite protests

The construction of a NATO radar on the Tubes hill, overlooking the city of Pecs in southern Hungary, will continue as weather permits, national daily Nepszava reported on Tuesday quoting the Defence Ministry spokesman. The ministry is currently finalising administrative... [read complete entry]

December 21, 2009, 10:49 CET

Controversial mayor receives death threat from "Roma Angels"

The mayor of the northeastern Hungarian town of Edeleny, known for his anti-Roma and anti-Semitic remarks, has received another death threat, the local mayor's office told MTI on Thursday. The mayor received a letter from the Roma-Hungarian Chapter of the... [read complete entry]

December 04, 2009, 07:44 CET

Mayor threatened after rejecting request to erect Advent cross in public

The mayor of Csorna (Győr-Moson-Sopron County) received threatening calls after expressing his aversion to Advent crosses erected in public places, writes kisalfold.hu. First, he rejected a request from a private individual to erect a cross on a square in the... [read complete entry]

November 19, 2009, 09:22 CET

Embassies make joint call for more transparency in Hungarian public life

The embassies of nine countries issued a joint statement Wednesday expressing concern over "non-transparent behaviour" in Hungarian public life. The joint statement from representatives of the US, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland noted that... [read complete entry]

November 04, 2009, 09:05 CET

Polish minority supports countryside mayor accused of xenophobia

The National Polish Minority Self-government of Hungary supports the mayor of Edeleny (NE Hungary) and asks the town's local government not to take sanctions against him, a letter sent by the Polish council's president to the local council of Edeleny... [read complete entry]

October 21, 2009, 08:38 CET

Hundreds demonstrate on behalf of mayor accused of racism

Over 500 people gathered on the main square of Edeleny, a town in northern Hungary, on Tuesday for a demonstration organised by the local branch of main conservative opposition Fidesz in support of Oszkar Molnar, the controversial mayor and Fidesz... [read complete entry]

October 19, 2009, 09:34 CET

Esztergom mayor alleges assassination plot, claims Socialist involvement

Esztergom's mayor Tamás Meggyes claimed on Friday that unidentified people riding motorcycles and carrying automatic pistols intended to assassinate him. Speaking at a rally organised in favour of him the Fidesz MP said the assailants are "paid by the Socialist... [read complete entry]

October 16, 2009, 09:38 CET

Mayor famed for tough stance on benefits founds new party

Monok's independent mayor Zsolt Szepessy has founded a political party, calling it the Összefogás Párt ("Unity Party") to run at the next parliamentary elections. The party’s goals are to protect national interests, decentralise politics and treat everyday problems, he said.... [read complete entry]

October 12, 2009, 09:19 CET

Municipalities stage protest in Budapest against 2010 budget

Thousands of people gathered on Kossuth tér outside Parliament Saturday morning to protest against cuts in state funding for local governments. Debrecen mayor and Fidesz MP Lajos Kósa, the main speaker, declared “Hungary has become an Absurdistan, local governments have... [read complete entry]

September 29, 2009, 09:13 CET

Fidesz to lead demonstration against cuts to local council budget

Debrecen's Fidesz mayor Lajos Kósa will lead a protest against the draft budget outside Parliament at 11 a.m. on October 10. Kósa has asked local government leaders, council members and employees to protest against "the most dangerous budget of the... [read complete entry]

September 14, 2009, 10:52 CET

Roma women file defamation suit against mayor

Close to 400 Roma women have initiated legal proceedings against Oszkar Molnar, an MP of the opposition Fidesz party and mayor of Edeleny (NE Hungary), over his "defamatory remarks" on Roma women, a local Roma leader told MTI on Friday.... [read complete entry]

August 17, 2009, 10:31 CET

Pécs mayor slammed for blowing struggling city's cash on porcelain tchotchkes

There's a nice little catfight going on down in the southern capital of Pécs, where the Fidesz-KDNP mayor, Zsolt Páva, is being denounced by his socialist enemies for wanting to spend some of the cash-strapped city's scarce financial resources buying... [read complete entry]

July 29, 2009, 09:24 CET

PM tells local councils to tighten budgets, cut red tape

The strictures of next year's crisis management budget mean that Hungary's local governments will have to tighten their belts, though cuts will not be uniformly top-sliced, Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai told a news conference on Tuesday. Reserves built up from... [read complete entry]

July 20, 2009, 11:37 CET

Bokros says local councils need sweeping reform

Hungary's local councils need to be fundamentally reformed rather than tinkered with, Lajos Bokros, MEP of the conservative Democratic Forum, told public television on Monday. Bokros, a former finance minister, said that government measures to change the financing of municipalities... [read complete entry]

July 17, 2009, 09:27 CET

Police work outsourced in Debrecen to private security firm

Security company Pannon Guard will take part in crime prevention and patrol services in Debrecen in co-operation with the police, chairman and CEO Sándor Sutka announced yesterday. "Our response forces will provide 24-hour armed patrol service," said Sutka, a former... [read complete entry]

June 10, 2009, 09:34 CET

Noted expert says corruption to blame for rise of Jobbik

Corruption in voters' eyes undid the Socialist and Free Democrat parties in Sunday's EU elections, political scientist László Lengyel comments in a contribution to hvg.hu. There is no Socialist or liberal voter who could not cite an example of corruption,... [read complete entry]

June 04, 2009, 12:29 CET

Think tank says political and economic risk in Hungary at all-time high

The economic and political risk index has dropped to an all-time low in Hungary in the past year and a half, a country report by the think tank Political Capital (PC) and the economic weekly Figyelo, published on Wednesday, stated.... [read complete entry]

May 13, 2009, 09:15 CET

Orbán says Pécs mayoral win shows ebbing of traditional left-right split

The mayoral election in Pecs has shown that Hungarian voters have transcended the division between left and right and will vote for in one direction if there is an appropriate candidate and programme, leader of the main opposition Fidesz party... [read complete entry]

May 11, 2009, 09:18 CET

Fidesz candidate elected mayor of Pécs, defeating Parliament Speaker Szili

Fidesz candidate Zsolt Páva was elected mayor of Pécs in Sunday's by-election, taking the traditionally Socialist town ahead of Socialist candidate Katalin Szili.... [read complete entry]

May 08, 2009, 09:52 CET

Socialists ramp up for Sunday mayoral election in key Pécs stronghold

Some 1,600 Socialist activists will travel to Pécs today to work for mayoral candidate Katalin Szili ahead of Sunday's election, Magyar Hírlap writes.... [read complete entry]

April 29, 2009, 09:47 CET

Another week, another dodgy Socialist real estate deal

The Central Investigation Chief Prosecutor's Office (Központi Nyomozó Főügyészség) has launched an inquiry into allegations of improper dealings involving the Socialist mayor of Dunaújváros, András Kálmán, index.hu writes, citing Magyar Nemzet. Kálmán, also a Socialist MP, is suspected of involvement... [read complete entry]

March 11, 2009, 09:26 CET

Police, local councils locus of Hungarian corruption, study finds

The largest number of corrupt employees work at local authorities and with the police, and the fewest in courts, according to a survey by the Sociology and Social Policy Institute of Budapest’s Corvinus University.... [read complete entry]

February 27, 2009, 11:05 CET

World Jewish Congress wades into controversy over local official's remarks

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) protested against a Hungarian local government official's anti-Semitic remark, and urged powerful political action against such acts, in a letter released to MTI on Thursday.... [read complete entry]

February 26, 2009, 01:59 CET

Katalin Szili's non-quixotic quest to be mayor of Pécs

While some Hungarian media outlets have called Katalin Szili’s entry into the upcoming special mayoral election in Pécs this May a forced candidacy, it is in fact a calculated tactical move that stands to pay off richly for the Speaker... [read complete entry]

February 25, 2009, 09:41 CET

Minister says local governments to cut red tape, number of bodies

Local government reform will mainly involve cutting red tape and reducing the number of local council representatives and administrative staff, Local Government Minister Istvan Gyenesei said on Tuesday.... [read complete entry]

February 25, 2009, 09:34 CET

Szili to run for mayor of Pécs, would leave House Speaker post if elected

Speaker of Parliament Katalin Szili was unanimously and unconditionally elected as a candidate for mayor of Pécs Tuesday by the local Socialist Party chapter.... [read complete entry]

February 19, 2009, 11:18 CET

Gov't reform bill aims at cutting number of local representatives in half

The number of local government representatives could be reduced by almost fifty percent if parliament adopts the government's local government reform, Local Government Minister Istvan Gyenesei told reporters on Wednesday.... [read complete entry]

February 02, 2009, 08:11 CET

Gov't proposes smaller parliament, one-round elections

Hungary's government proposes a smaller parliament, one-round elections, fixed remuneration for MPs, a more transparent system of refunding expenses and a reduction in the number of local council representatives, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said on Sunday.... [read complete entry]

January 14, 2009, 08:35 CET

MSZP demands resignation of provincial Fidesz representative

The Socialists have called for the resignation of a Fidesz local government representative from Kiskunfélegyháza, who in his capacity as a school principal, did not prevent a student from having her picture taken with a wax figure of Adolf Hitler... [read complete entry]

January 13, 2009, 12:56 CET

Corrupt city official in Kecskemét caught mid-bribe

Although there's the general assumption that once a person gets into a position of power in Hungary, they can be as corrupt as they want to be without having to the suffer the consequences, that's not always the case. Earlier... [read complete entry]

December 19, 2008, 11:09 CET

Court clears way for movement of controversial monument to '56 revolt

Earlier this week workers began to disassemble a memorial in Veszprém dedicated to the 1956 revolution after a court cleared the way for the monument to be moved to a less conspicuous place in the city, index.hu writes.... [read complete entry]

December 18, 2008, 11:42 CET

Convicted mayor re-instated in village by-election

Zoltán Póczai, who had to step down as mayor of Sormás in September after being convicted of fraud and document forgery, has been re-elected to the post, writes Index.hu.... [read complete entry]

December 18, 2008, 11:37 CET

Countryside politicians benefit from "doubling" travel reimbursements

Tabloid Blikk reports that MPs from outside Budapest who are also members of county governments are picking up travel reimbursements in the hundreds of thousands of forints even though they also use cars issued by their county government.... [read complete entry]

November 05, 2008, 04:53 CET

Minister calls for major reform to municipal government sytem

Local Government Minister Istvan Gyenesei called for "real, great, structural changes" to Hungary's municipal government system during parliament's plenary debate of the 2009 budget bill on Wednesday.... [read complete entry]

October 17, 2008, 02:35 CET

Mayor orders EU flags down over Hungarian-Slovak textbook flap

Leányfalu Mayor Csaba Nyíri has ordered all European Union flags to be removed from public buildings of the Pest County town to express his disapproval that the EU has not gotten involved in the "Slovak textbook scandal", writes origo.hu, based... [read complete entry]

September 04, 2008, 10:14 CET

Mayor finds dog dead after cracking down on loan sharks

The mayor of Drávapiski Zoltán Mali found his dog slain on Tuesday afternoon, in the wake of his launching an open campaign against usurers. Mali told Magyar Hírlap on Wednesday that several village residents had seen one of the neighbouring... [read complete entry]

September 03, 2008, 01:20 CET

Crusading mayor of southern Hungarian town assaulted

Official had been leading campaign against local loan-sharks. [read complete entry]

August 13, 2008, 10:11 CET

Local Roma leader taken into custody

Mosonmagyaróvár Roma Minority Authority head arrested for fraud, forgery and hooliganism. [read complete entry]

August 06, 2008, 09:41 CET

State Audit Office raps local governments

Says 90% of councils failed to adaquately take advange of EU funds, or balance their budgets. [read complete entry]

July 22, 2008, 12:36 CET

Roma leader challenges Orbán on Fidesz ties to Hungarian Guard

In latter to opposition leader, Kolompár says party members are supporting far-right group. [read complete entry]

May 22, 2008, 11:00 CET

Opponents put brakes on luxury-loving mayor's dream wheels

A wonderfully stupid but still illuminating political brouhaha has broken out in the southwest capital of Nagykanizsa, thanks to the local mayor's unapologetic demand for a certain luxury car. According to index.hu, the kerfuffle started when the Fidesz-KDNP-backed polgármester,... [read complete entry]