Magyar will not take up seat in Budapest Assembly

Magyar told public broadcaster Kossuth Radio that he could not fulfil the mandate next to his other positions, as he is already working as an MEP, party leader and the organiser of the party’s “Tisza islands” movements.

In an interview with news channel M1, Magyar said he had invited every top candidate in the local elections for talks because “I feel the responsibility of the fact that Budapest citizens have elected ten party members into the assembly”. Apart from former Fidesz mayoral candidate Alexandra Szentkiralyi, “who rejected the talks with a ridiculous, puerile excuse,” Magyar said he had talked to all of them.

Regarding his talks with Gergely Karacsony, Magyar said he had warned the Budapest mayor of “a cozying up, a mating dance” with the government, insisting that “there is a coming closer, despite all propaganda to the contrary” between Budapest and the ruling parties. “Karacsony sometimes calls for Olympic Games [to be held in Budapest] louder than the prime minister and they were openly praising each other during the flood,” Magyar said.

Asked about statements that Tisza party members would stay away from nominating a deputy mayor and from sitting on the board of city-owned companies, Magyar said the party wanted to keep out of the “the corruption in the capital, conducted so far between the old left and Fidesz.”

Budapest’s current internal rules bestow all powers on the mayor, Magyar said, adding that it was not just Tisza that wanted to change this. He said they wanted councillors to also be able to submit amendment proposals and nominate or comment on the appointment of the heads of city-owned companies.

“People have had enough of the twenty-year-old back door deals between Orban and [Democratic Coalition leader Ferenc] Gyurcsany,” Magyar said.

Magyar said people also wanted to know “why the capital is on the brink of bankruptcy, why the government is stealing or taking away 75 billion forints from it, and why the state budget has collapsed”.

“How is it possible that when Viktor Orban took over the government in 2010, Hungary’s state debt was 19,000 billion forints, and that has grown to 55,000 billion forints? Meanwhile, Hungary received 40,000 billion forints from the EU, but even so, public services are falling apart and our hospitals are mouldy…” Magyar said.

Asked whether he would attend a debate with a government official on October 3, Magy said he had “an axe to grind” with the prime minister, not a government official. He said he wanted to ask him “how he managed to turn Hungary into the poorest and officially most corrupt country in Europe in 14 years”.