Local services
The Association of Cities with County Rights calls for a rethink of the level and calculation method of the solidarity contribution. The association held its general assembly and two-day conference in Debrecen.
On the first day, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyás, was among the speakers at the meeting.
At the press conference on Monday afternoon, the President of the Association of Cities with County Rights, Károly Szita, said that Debrecen is the capital of the Hungarian countryside. He congratulated the people of Debrecen for “building such a wonderful city, which some mayors look on with envy”. Károly Szita pointed out that the European Union does not give HUF 413 billion to cities with county rights, which would help these municipalities develop even better. He added that the use of the EU funds allocated in the previous EU cycle was found to be regular in all cities without exception. Brussels does not give any reasonable reason for withholding these funds to help catch up. He said that the rejection of peace, migration, and gender propaganda cannot be a reason for this; they cannot accept it.
Mayor of Debrecen, László Papp, recalled that the Association of Cities with County Rights last met here ten years ago. He said that the Association of Cities with County Rights is calling for a review of the amount of the solidarity contribution deducted from the local business tax of cities, the method of calculation and the order of use of the contribution. They have adopted a resolution on this issue and have interpreted their position to Gergely Gulyás. The mayor said that the institution of the solidarity contribution is not disputed, as there are municipalities in a more fortunate situation, which receive significantly higher than average tax revenues. In this respect, there is no balance in the country. He said that Debrecen was also able to increase its tax revenue largely thanks to government subsidies, “so we do not dispute that the solidarity contribution is necessary, the extent of this must be determined, and in that case there will be unity and cooperation, as this will serve the interests of Hungary,” he concluded. (Editor’s note: Debrecen has to pay more than HUF 10 billion in solidarity contributions to the central budget this year.)
Gergely Gulyás said that Hungarian local governments have been able to implement developments in the past ten years that were not possible in any decade following the regime change, and the goal is for this to continue. He said that the country has HUF 13 billion of the EUR 21 billion of the EU Cohesion Fund at its disposal, and they are still fighting with Brussels for HUF 8 billion. “We see that among those we are arguing with are Hungarians, Hungarian parties, and last week they provided indisputable proof of this,” he stated. He said that the mayors of Hungarian cities, whether pro-government or opposition, look after the interests of their cities when applying for and using EU funds. The minister stated that if Ukraine’s rapid accession to the EU is achieved, “there will be no cohesion funds, not only for us, but neither in the Central European region.”
Gergely Gulyás indicated that they had received a signal from members of the Association of Cities with County Rights that the settlements do not receive sufficient resources from the state to perform the tasks required by the state. Although public transport operation is not a compulsory task, it has become one in practice, so they have to agree on how to finance it.
Source and photo credit:debrecen.hu
