PM Orban: After a Victorious Election, We Will Redesign the Position of Local Municipalities

When, after a victorious election, we redesign the position of local governments, the question is how to modernize without destroying villages, Prime Minister Viktor Orban emphasized in his speech at the National Forum of Local Governments.He highlighted that since 2010, a different county and local government system has been in place, and the energy that it possessed has been used up. “If we continue like this, that is fine, but we want to take bigger steps, and this system will no longer be enough,” said the Prime Minister.

National Forum of Local Governments (Photo: Attila Polyak)

"It is time to think in a broader context and ask the questions that have accumulated over the past sixteen years," said Viktor Orban in his speech at the National Forum of Local Governments. The Prime Minister stated that we should not make tweaks, but rather take stock. 

We have done a lot of work since 2010, and everyone could see that this was a different county and municipal system, and we took out all the energy that was in it. If we continue like this, that's fine, but we want to take bigger steps, and this system will no longer be enough for that,

 the Prime Minister said.

National Forum of Local Governments (Photo: Attila Polyak)

He recalled that this is why he asked Minister for Regional Development and Public Administration Tibor Navracsics to deal with the matter.

We should launch consultations, ask important questions and redesign what is necessary,

Viktor Orban said. In order to carry this through, the election must be won with the help of local governments, he added.

He thanked everyone for maintaining the country’s operability despite the cold weather, making it possible to help everyone.

The heart chakra of Fidesz–KDNP is in the countryside. Without the Hungarian countryside, there would be no Fidesz–KDNP victory at all,

the Prime Minister stressed. If someone is not present everywhere in the country, they should not undertake governing, he pointed out. "Without local knowledge, this country cannot be governed."

And we do not pay visits to the countryside, we come from there,

PM Orban emphasized.

He recalled that during the 2022 elections, the governing parties lost only two individual districts outside Budapest. "Both in Budapest and in the countryside there is a revanchist elite threatening vendettas and seeking revenge against everyone who belongs to the national community," Viktor Orban warned. He highlighted that

In 2010, 1,400 billion forints of debt had accumulated in the local government system. Sixty percent of this debt was foreign currency debt, which also meant exposure to exchange rate risk. As a result, debts doubled, money ended up at the banks, and there were no resources left to perform even basic tasks. This was settled by the government in 2010, which was one of the greatest decisions.

He added that gratitude is not a political category, the past is worth recalling because it proves that what we were capable of in the past, we are still capable of today.

Local government debt amounts to 1.6 percent of total local government assets,

he said.

The Prime Minister made it clear that Hungary must never resign itself to urbanization in a way that causes villages to disappear.

When, after a victorious election, we redesign the position of local governments, the question is how to modernize without destroying villages,

he emphasized.