Debrecen4U April 16, 2025

Debrecen would continue its close cooperation with the Ministry of Construction and Transport in the future

The conference of the Association of Cities with County Rights focused on the cooperation between the Ministry of Construction and Transport (abbreviated in Hungarian as ÉKM) and cities with county rights. The EU funds that Hungary is entitled to were also discussed.

As reported before, the Association of County-Law Cities is 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 started with a slight delay, as Deputy Minister Nándor Csepreghy and his ministry are preparing the work that will allow us to “restart the engine” which was really booming before Covid.

He reminded that before Covid, 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 came, 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 emphasised at the press conference that, regarding the operation of cities with county rights, if we are talking about investment and development, the most important partner is definitely the Ministry of Construction and Transport. In this regard, Debrecen is in a position like one of the country’s major development centres, which can experience day by day what it means to cooperate with a ministry. “With a ministry that can professionally and forward-lookingly generate, help and support the development processes that are implemented in local governments and cities with county rights. A few days ago, we launched a major transport development here in Debrecen with the support of the ÉKM, which affects the entire transport system of the city. I thank you for the opportunity for cooperation and support since Debrecen, and through its example, cities with county rights are also dynamic development centres of the country. It is a great feeling to experience during the country tour 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. “Today, several areas were also on the table: construction investments, regulatory issues, and transport. We would like to continue this cooperation in the future,” the Mayor of Debrecen pointed out.

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, according to which the Hungarian state is an asset, which is the common asset of 10 million Hungarian citizens, which amounted to approximately HUF 10 thousand billion in 2010, and this value increased to HUF 24 thousand 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, because there is a political force in Hungary today that 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, then 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 with regard to what political cooperation we can or cannot bring these EU resources from Brussels. The Brussels empire is holding these resources hostage completely unjustly, and apparently those governors who are working in Hungary to make Hungary a pro-Ukraine and pro-war country are trying to represent this,” he pointed out. 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 from time to time.

“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 most important basis for this cooperation is that today, in Hungary, the capital is at 160 percent of the European Union 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’s goal is that when development resources are, unjustly, and we are in short supply, the development of the country should not stop,” he said.

He added the Hungarian economy and Hungary will be a strong and highly developed country if it takes into account that although the country has a capital, it must have not one economic centre, but at least 25 such centres, and these are the cities with county rights. Finally, he spoke about the fact that HUF 2,500 billion had been spent together with these settlements on investments that improve the local quality of life. “These funds must be filled, but they can only be filled if we can guarantee that the development funds that are due to Hungary actually reach Hungary. In this regard, the cities with county rights are strategic partners, and we are partners of the Hungarian citizens,” Nándor Csepreghy concluded.

Source and photo credit:debrecen.hu