Two critical takes on the mayor of Budapest
December 20th, 2023Six months before local elections, an environmentalist, and an alt-left critic of Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony acknowledge his good intentions but find his performance unsatisfactory.
On the Heti Világgazdaság website, LMP co-chairman Péter Ungár rejects an accusation by the liberal weekly’s commentator who condemned the LMP for intending to run their own candidate at the mayoral elections. Sándor Révész wrote that the LMP is playing into the hands of Fidesz and perhaps also to its playbook. Ungár writes that Karácsony chooses not to confront Fidesz on individual projects and has thus made concessions on the environment which justifies the small green party’s decision to put forward its own candidate for mayor of Budapest.
On Mérce, Noémi Lehoczki admits that Karácsony ‘has a vision’ but finds his strategy controversial. The mayor, who leads Párbeszéd (Dialogue), a tiny Green Party, would like to help underserved inhabitants and protect the environment, she writes. Her problem is that the mayor thinks he can achieve his goals by ‘taking the lead of the corrupt lot’. By ‘corrupt lot’, she means the main opposition parties whom she accuses of basically agreeing with the right-wing government. She hopes Karácsony will win the mayoral elections but would find it ‘difficult to be enthusiastic about him’.