Opposition mayor candidate promises green city in local election programme

Joint candidate of the opposition Socialists and Parbeszed parties for Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony promised a free, green and liveable city in his election programme launched on Saturday.

Karácsony said he would work for a city where residents have a better quality of life and can therefore live longer.

Instead of being a strong-handed leader, the candidate said he wanted to lead a strong city. He added that he insisted on the pre-selection of opposition candidates because he believed in the power of the community and wanted to develop his programme’s priorities in cooperation with Budapest residents.

Karácsony cited the example of Vienna which he said had been run by progressive mayors for a hundred years.

He called for a strong community-based home rental scheme and said that people who buy an annual card should not pay more than one hundred forints (30 euro cents) a day for using public transport.

He promised establishing a “green corridor” in Budapest from Margaret Island through Hajógyári Island to Római embankment in the north and pledged to prevent “unnecessary developments” such as a “sneaking Olympics project”.

Karácsony called for a clean, well-ordered and safe city and promised to pay “metropolitan bonuses” to police.

Commenting on the financial resources needed for developments, he said at least a thousand billion forints could be gained from stopping projects that are not supported by the majority of Budapest residents, only by the ruling Fidesz party.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/KardosIldikóPhotography

Source: MTI