Central Hungary local council withdraws support for planned Horthy monument
Perkáta, May 15 (MTI) – The municipal assembly of Perkáta (C Hungary) voted unanimously to withdraw a resolution on erecting a bust of Miklós Horthy, Hungary’s regent in the interbellum era, in the town, in a special session on Monday.
The bust would have been accepted by the town council as a donation from three local private individuals and would have been erected in one of the town’s public spaces, Perkáta Mayor Balázs Somogyi said in a statement published on the town’s website.
Over the past few weeks, “Perkáta has come under unprecedented pressure” over the resolution passed on April 20, Somogyi said, explaining the assembly’s decision. He said the attention given to the town’s plans to erect the monument had elevated what had been a local matter to a national level and turned it into a national political issue.
Somogyi said that “in the storm generated by the national media” Perkáta’s interest was for calm to be restored in the community and for the matter to be put to rest.
Commenting on the matter last week, government office chief János Lázár said that the government would not pay tribute to Horthy for his role during Hungary’s German occupation, but it “cannot strip a community of the right to erect such a monument”.
Photo: erdely.ma
Source: MTI