Magyar: Budapest mayor’s last interview ‘full of lies, contradictions’
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony’s interview with news portal Telex on Monday is “full of lies and self-contradictions,” the leader of the opposition Tisza Party told MTI.
“Karácsony has always had the skill to present himself as a victim to solicit pity, while he keeps promising everything to everybody but ends up not keeping the promises he makes,” Péter Magyar said in a statement ahead of the inaugural meeting of the next municipal assembly scheduled for October 4.
“A real leader fulfills their obligations mandated by law, which include seeking out candidates and solutions based on compromise. Such a leader would enter into consultation with key stakeholders and would refrain from making accusations,” Magyar said, referring to the issue of nominating a deputy mayor.
But what Karacsony had done instead, Magyar said, “was blackmail me”, asserting that he would rather not nominate anyone for deputy mayor unless Tisza supported “the men of the [previous} Gyurcsany-Bajnai government”, namely Ambrus Kiss and Csaba Tordai, to continue their work as councillors in the new assembly.
Magyar suggested that in the interview, Karácsony indicated that “unless Tisza supports ‘the strong titans of the old regime’ keeping their posts in the city’s leadership and municipal companies, he would not even draft a budget for Budapest and would let everything collapse”. “And, together with [ruling] Fidesz, they would try to shift responsibility for it to the Tisza Party.”
“The mayor stated openly that obviously he, the old leftist opposition, Fidesz and the Two-tailed Dog party linked strongly to Csaba Tordai would, too, attack the Tisza Party,” Magyar said.
“This is what is happening now… The old ruling elite’s members are now banding together and attacking the sole new political force that has potential, the one that has set it as its objective to eradicate corruption both at a municipal and a national level…”
Magyar rejected as “a lie” the claim that his party’s councilors would “not take any responsibility” in the new assembly, arguing that Tisza would nominate one councilor for equal opportunities and another one for transparency and the lustration of contracts.
“And responsibilities can only be assumed if the representatives have real powers to exercise, and not all rights and powers are delegated to the mayor,” Magyar insisted.
The Tisza Party will have ten representatives in the new municipal assembly.
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I’m not impressed by this kind of public fighting between Magyar and Karacsony when they are both working in opposition to Fidesz. Magyar may be trying to distance himself from Karacsony to gain more credibility among rural voters. The impression I get from Hungarian politics is that too many of these politicians behave like hysterical prima donnas airing publicly in dramatic language what should be minor conflicts handled behind the scenes or with more diplomatic language. Fidesz politicians have been behaving like this constantly for example saying they are ready to “march on Brussels” and “occupy Brussels”, etc. The speaker of Parliament is a real nutbar speaking in apocaliptic terms.
Pot calling the kettle black.