Fidesz submits proposals as opposition in the Budapest Municipal Assembly – UPDATE
Hungary’s ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance is starting off the Budapest municipal assembly’s new term by submitting three proposals to the body, Alexandra Szentkirályi, the head of Fidesz’s Budapest chapter, said on Tuesday.
Szentkirályi said on Facebook that the Fidesz group’s first proposal calls for increasing the number of joint patrols by police and Budapest Law Enforcement Directorate (FORI) officers and creating the conditions for 24-hour patrols where necessary to bolster public safety.
Budapest police and FORI officers clocked up more than 22,500 joint patrol hours in 2018 and some 37,000 in 2019, she said, adding that the administration of Gergely Karácsony, the incumbent mayor, had reduced this to 2,022 hours.
She called on the city administration to examine the necessary powers and personnel developments to make Budapest’s streets and underpasses safer.
Szentkirályi said the second proposal concerned homelessness. It calls for assessing the situation of homeless people, quantifying the size of the homeless population, and preparing an action plan for strengthening the city’s social care system.
Szentkirályi urged the city administration to involve civil groups, churches and homeless shelters in the process.
Fidesz’s third proposal concerns public cleanliness and calls on the mayor to reinstall the 3,000 public rubbish bins that were scrapped four years ago, Szentkirályi said.
As we wrote yesterday, Péter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza Party, told that Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony’s interview with news portal Telex on Monday is “full of lies and self-contradictions, details HERE.
read also – Election recap: Péter Magyar’s party wins big, Karácsony remains but may have problems in the Assembly
UPDATE
Dávid Vitézy, a politician who works with the LMP-Greens in the assembly, submitted a proposal on creating a transport police, saying on Facebook today that every passenger in Budapest “has the right to travel in a clean and orderly environment free from harassment”.
He said the proposed service should be on stand-by throughout the year, day and night, with personnel drawn from an enlarged municipality police force from January 1, 2025 at the latest.
In addition, permanent patrols should be instituted at critical points, traffic junctions and transport lines in the city, replacing the private security services commissioned by the BKK, he said.
Also, the proposal calls for further developing the BudapestGO app and customer service so passengers can report urgent problems via chat and phone.
“Sadly, passengers, drivers and ticket inspectors have experienced serious harassment 2-3 times a day in recent years … and often drunk and badly behaved passengers do not comply with regulations, yet the conditions for banning those who endanger their fellow passengers … do not currently exist…” he said.
All these opposition proposals seem perfectly reasonable. What are the chances of Gergö agreeing to any of them?