Local services
The conference of the Association of Cities with County Rights focused on cooperation between the Ministry of Construction and Transport (abbreviated in Hungarian as ÉKM) and cities with county rights. Participants also discussed Hungary’s entitlement to EU funds.
The Association of County-Law Cities has been holding its general assembly and two-day conference in Debrecen. On the second day, State Secretary of the Ministry of Construction and Transport Nándor Csepreghy was among the guests.
President of the Association of Cities with County Rights, Károly Szita, said that Tuesday’s press conference, with Deputy Minister Nándor Csepreghy and his ministry, is preparing the work that will allow us to “restart the engine”, which was booming before COVID-19.
He reminded that before the pandemic, Hungarian cities had the most successful years of the past 100 years behind them, the 7-20 years during which the cityscape was transformed, industrial parks and jobs were established as part of the Modern Cities Program worth HUF 2,500 billion. “Then COVID-19 stopped everything, and the Russian-Ukrainian war added to that. The Ministry of Construction and Transport undertook to create a new regulatory environment during this period that would allow these developments to be restarted and continued, but in a different legal environment, promoting their efficiency in the future as well,” he highlighted.
Mayor László Papp stressed at the press conference that the Ministry of Construction and Transport is the most important partner in operating cities with county rights regarding investments and developments. He added that Debrecen is like one of the country’s major development centres, where people can experience daily what it means to cooperate with a ministry.
“We are working with a professional and forward-looking ministry in its ability to generate, help and support development processes in municipalities and cities with county rights. A few days ago, we launched a significant transport development in Debrecen with the ministry’s support, which affects the city’s entire transport system. Thank you for the opportunity of cooperation and support, as Debrecen and the cities of the county are dynamic development centres of the country. It is a great feeling to experience that the ministry goes from city to city throughout the country, negotiates development needs, and based on this, development processes are launched. We have never experienced such cooperation before,” he emphasised.
The mayor pointed out that several other areas, including construction investments, regulatory issues, and transport, were also discussed.
State Secretary of the Ministry of Construction and Transport, Nándor Csepreghy, first expressed his gratitude on behalf of Minister János Lázár for being able to meet the mayors of the cities with county rights today on behalf of the ministry. According to him, after 14 years, a responsible government should be accountable for what it has done for the Hungarian people. He illustrated this with an example by pointing out that the Hungarian state is an asset, the common asset of 10 million Hungarian citizens. It amounted to approximately HUF 10,000 billion in 2010, which increased to HUF 24,000 billion by 2024.
“This does not depend on the development results of the past 14 years, and it does not depend on these EU funds, about which we have had an interesting debate in recent weeks. On the one hand, a political force in Hungary today views these funds as the subject of political bargaining. If Hungary supported Ukraine’s accession to the European Community, then we would be entitled to these resources; if not, we would not. That is why the Tisza Party is lobbying and fighting in Brussels through its representatives,” he explained.
He recalled, “ We have been a member of the European Community for almost 21 years. When we joined, we agreed to form an economic alliance; we would dismantle customs duties on foreign goods at the Hungarian border, and the price compensations for this dismantling of customs duties would be the development resources that Hungary is entitled to. This government has never made a political deal about what political cooperation we can or cannot bring these EU resources from Brussels. Brussels is holding these resources hostage entirely unjustly. Those governors who are working in Hungary to make Hungary a pro-Ukraine and pro-war country are trying to represent this. However, according to him, they will never allow developments serving the Hungarian people to be the subject of such political bargaining, even if this causes difficulties occasionally.
“In the past three years, a very constructive cooperation has developed between the Ministry of Construction and Transport and the cities with county rights. The capital is at 160 percent of the European Union’s average level of development, while the countryside is only at 70 percent. So, if there is an area in Hungary that needs development, it is the countryside, since the base of Hungary’s growth reserves is located in this region. It is no coincidence that 22 out of 25 cities with county rights now have a 2×2-lane road network. The current government aims to ensure that the country’s development does not come to a standstill, even when development resources are – unfairly – limited,” he said.
He added that thanks to the Hungarian economy, Hungary would become a strong and highly developed country. Although the country has a capital, it should not have one economic centre, but at least 25 such centres, which are cities with county rights.
Finally, he spoke about HUF 2,500 billion having been spent with these settlements on investments that improve the local quality of life.” He stressed that it is essential to ensure that the development funds allocated to Hungary come to Hungary. In this, the cities with county rights are strategic partners, and they are the partners of Hungarian citizens, Nándor Csepreghy concluded.
Source and photo credit:debrecen.hu
