Local services
Dr. Diána Széles, who has been the deputy mayor of Debrecen since 2014 and is responsible for social, civic, youth policy, health, and tourism tasks, as well as care policy, was awarded the title of Deputy Mayor of the Year at the jubilee event of the 30th City Mayors’ Rendezvous on 3 June 2025 in Esztergom.
City Mayors’ Rendezvous is the longest-standing local government event in Hungary, first held in 1995. Every year since 1997 (cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic), the Mayor of the Year, Deputy Mayor of the Year, and Clerk of the Year awards, founded by the initiator and organiser Szféra Európa Ltd., are presented on this occasion, along with a linocut by the artist Endre Szász entitled “City”. These awards are given to those city leaders who have most earned the appreciation of the population in a national online vote, based on the votes of citizens.
In 2025, the Mayor of the Year title was awarded to Dr. Ciprián Farkas (Sopron), the Deputy Mayor of the Year title to Dr. Diána Széles (Debrecen), and the Clerk of the Year title to Dr. Ildikó Veres.
Dr. Diána Széles has been the Deputy Mayor of Debrecen responsible for care policy since 2014. She is a 44-year-old lawyer, married and a mother of two children. Since 2006, she has been a Fidesz municipal representative. She has earned the trust of the citizens in her individual district five times in a row. The Caring City programme she created is unique in the country, focusing on social assistance work and, for example, through the “Move, Debrecen!” initiative, on promoting a healthy lifestyle and conscious health preservation. This programme, which is also intended to strengthen the sense of belonging of the citizens of Debrecen, is a cooperation between the city government, the Debrecen Charitable Board, the University of Debrecen, the Debrecen School District, the Debrecen Vocational Training Centre and many other partners based on a wide-ranging professional collaboration and a loving human approach, which has become a prominent element of city policy in recent years.
Among the leaders of Debrecen, Lajos Kósa was awarded the Mayor of the Year title in 2001, Zoltán Pajna the Deputy Mayor of the Year title in 2009, and Dr. Antal Szekeres won the Clerk of the Year title in 2010. Debrecen hosted the City Mayors’ Meeting in 2010.
Szféra Európa Ltd. also founded the Key to Successful Cities award in 2024, which was awarded last year to five cities that they considered to be extremely successful in the 2019-2024 five-year local government cycle. Debrecen was one of the first to receive this award, along with Nyíregyháza, Kecskemét, Veszprém, and Szeged. On behalf of the local government of Debrecen, the award was received by Deputy Mayor Ákos Balázs, responsible for city management and environmental affairs.
This year, Hajdúszoboszló was the only one to receive the Key to Successful Cities title, as it has been a defining settlement in Hungarian tourism for years with more than one million guest nights. The award was received by Mayor Gyula Czeglédi.
At the City Mayors’ Rendezvous, the awards were presented by State Secretary for Local Government Dr. Miklós Dukai, and the event’s main patron was Minister of Public Administration and Regional Development Dr. Tibor Navracsics.
Source and photo credit:debrecen.hu
