Miskolc mayor pledges to continue dismantling slums

Budapest, January 26 (MTI) – The local government of Miskolc, in north-eastern Hungary, is committed to carrying on with plans to eliminate slums on the city’s outskirts, the city’s mayor told MTI on Tuesday.

Ákos Kriza said the city would appeal to the Kuria, the supreme court, against a decision of Hungary’s equal opportunities authority (NEKI), which was upheld by a court on Monday. NEKI said last summer that Miskolc council had been in breach of the law when it evicted people from slums mainly inhabited by Roma families.

Kriza said eliminating the slums was “one of the most important of the city’s policies” and the policy enjoyed broad support, including backing by 35,000 local residents who signed a supporting petition earlier. “Steps to eliminate the slums will continue,” he said.

The mayor insisted that the ruling upheld on Monday only called on the council to prepare a more detailed action plan for continuing the programme. “This is all we are obliged to do and nothing more,” he said, adding that NEKI was exaggerating the substance of the court ruling. He added that Miskolc would not offer housing to anyone who “fails to pay bills, to criminals or people who cannot keep to the norms of social behaviour”.