Gábor Demszky
Encyclopedia
Gábor Demszky is a Hungarian
politician, lawyer and sociologist by qualification. Demszky was the Mayor
of Budapest
from 1990 to 2010.
. During the late period of communist regime, Demszky was a leading figure of the then illegal underground democratic opposition to the Kádár
-system. His main anti-government activities included the organizing of printing and publishing of illegal books, periodicals, and newspapers collectively called 'samizdat
s'. During this time he was surveyed by the secret services, harassed by authorities and he clashed multiple times with the state police during demonstrations for free press and multi-party democracy.
He in the last years of the regime was a founding member of the SZDSZ party, which he led briefly during the late 1990s, before he resigned the post of party premier in protest over factionary in-fighting. He didn't ask for his membership's renewal in 2010, therefore ceased to be a member. Since he left his office, he is in a set of former mayors who, according to the law on local governments are eligible for state-pensions, he declared he doesn't plan full-time activity in the future.
In the first five years they managed to bring unemployment and homelessness down by inviting private investors and building relationships with employee-trainers, but the economy of the city mainly depended on government policy. During the first two terms reconstruction of the Millennium Underground to its Reform-Era quality was done, as well as building the new Lágymányosi Bridge, and the Hungary Boulevard currently furthest from the city center, as well as the southern sector of M0, albeit temporarily on a decreased capacity.
A government denial of transferring of even obligated funds to obligatory services of the city in the 1998-2002 term led to a stop in infrastructure investment and even with the intensive repair-politics statistical degradation of the pipe system and all materials (schools, buses, trams, heat plants) in metropolitan ownership took place for four years, only the cultural life of the city was boosted from government funds with the House of Terror, National Theatre, in Park Millenáris House of Future, Palace of Miracles etc. After what all notable political analysts described as the government fell in trying to make Demszky fall (no Fidesz MEP-nominee could win in e.g. any electorate district of all districts affected by cancellation of metro line 4, the number of people voting there impacted the rate-defined seats dramatically), a faster development started with comprehensive repairs. From 2004, when Ferenc Gyurcsány came to power, BKV
started a modernization, by 2010 50% of the city's roads were reconstructed, only the northwestern sector of M0
was missing, the tunnel of metro line 4 was finished and line 2 was reconstructed, 1 more bridge was built and 3 others were completely reconstructed and renovated. Sewage treatment increased from 51% to 100%, pipe-coverage also increased to 100%. The lighting and traffic-light systems were reconstructed with energy-efficient and non-skypolluting lamps, and the central heating and electric power systems were also reconstructed. In the two last terms the problems to be worked against and finally decreased were rapid increase in modern cars and traffic, and intrusive effects of nighlife. The attention of the local government gradually turned to cityscape-planning, reconstruction and bettering services as funds of most infrastructure-modernization programs freed up.
In 2006, after the Ferenc Gyurcsány
's audiotape-created political crisis broke out, Demszky's actions to seek ways to limit or otherwise restrict demonstrations critical of the government were criticised by his party's opposition and as well as by civil rights groups. He ordered the posting of 100-150 signs forbidding agricultural vehicles to use Budapest's main roads and enter the city center, to prevent an agricultural association staging a protest against the government and also he initiated a regulation, that mandates a permission to be obtained from the mayor's office to set up a stage for the purpose of a political event and also mandates a permission to be obtained for placing vehicles on public property for non-parking reasons. The regulation has been passed in the city council by the government majority, but it has been widely criticised for contradicting the constitution and the law which regulates public assembly (this is a so called qualified majority law, i.e. in order to modify that law, a 2/3 majority has to be obtained in the national assembly). In an interview, Demszky stated that the reason for forbidding the agricultural vehicles was that they would have eroded the freshly reconstructed roads and would have completely distrupted the full traffic of Budapest and since that they would have expressed only a few hundred people's opinion, it was unacceptable. Nevertheless, he thought that the protest had no real basis, as all fund transfers were done that year, the vehicles were funded by the government 40-45%, and the leaders of the agricultural association happening to organise were members of that Fidesz fraction which agitated to radicals in front of parliament, and refused to be present in the assembly during the Prime Minister's speeches, the only difference was that these members have drawn into battle their supporters' vehicles which they had too. However, he stated he never denied the right of protesting and only protected the reconstructed roads from vehicles not supposed to function there.
on the occasion of his state visit to Albania.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
politician, lawyer and sociologist by qualification. Demszky was the Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
from 1990 to 2010.
Biography
As a teenager, Demszky joined an informal Maoist radical group, which criticized the socialist Kádár's government from an ultra-hardliner communist viewpoint. After two years, he lost faith in political left ideas and took interest in libertarian ideology. He earned a decree in sociology from ELTEElte
Elte can refer to the following:* Elte, North Rhine-Westphalia, former township now integrated into Rheine, Germany.* Eötvös Loránd University, a University in Budapest.* Harry Elte, Dutch architect.* E. L. Elte, Dutch mathematician...
. During the late period of communist regime, Demszky was a leading figure of the then illegal underground democratic opposition to the Kádár
János Kádár
János Kádár was a Hungarian communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, presiding over the country from 1956 until his forced retirement in 1988. His thirty-two year term as General Secretary makes Kádár the longest ruler of the People's Republic of Hungary...
-system. His main anti-government activities included the organizing of printing and publishing of illegal books, periodicals, and newspapers collectively called 'samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
s'. During this time he was surveyed by the secret services, harassed by authorities and he clashed multiple times with the state police during demonstrations for free press and multi-party democracy.
He in the last years of the regime was a founding member of the SZDSZ party, which he led briefly during the late 1990s, before he resigned the post of party premier in protest over factionary in-fighting. He didn't ask for his membership's renewal in 2010, therefore ceased to be a member. Since he left his office, he is in a set of former mayors who, according to the law on local governments are eligible for state-pensions, he declared he doesn't plan full-time activity in the future.
Office
Demszky was first elected as Mayor of Budapest in 1990, and has won all the elections in which he run for that position since then (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006). He is with one of the longest serving time among politicians holding the same offices since the fall of communism. During his first term, the primary goal of his mayorship was working against the collapse of public services and order and against increasing homelessness and unemployment, while dealing with the environmental damages and ruined down working infrastructure under underinvestment and without satisfactory repairs for at least one decade, left behind by the soviet-era. Cityscape quality was also ruined because of the pragmatic modernizations of a shortage-economy.In the first five years they managed to bring unemployment and homelessness down by inviting private investors and building relationships with employee-trainers, but the economy of the city mainly depended on government policy. During the first two terms reconstruction of the Millennium Underground to its Reform-Era quality was done, as well as building the new Lágymányosi Bridge, and the Hungary Boulevard currently furthest from the city center, as well as the southern sector of M0, albeit temporarily on a decreased capacity.
A government denial of transferring of even obligated funds to obligatory services of the city in the 1998-2002 term led to a stop in infrastructure investment and even with the intensive repair-politics statistical degradation of the pipe system and all materials (schools, buses, trams, heat plants) in metropolitan ownership took place for four years, only the cultural life of the city was boosted from government funds with the House of Terror, National Theatre, in Park Millenáris House of Future, Palace of Miracles etc. After what all notable political analysts described as the government fell in trying to make Demszky fall (no Fidesz MEP-nominee could win in e.g. any electorate district of all districts affected by cancellation of metro line 4, the number of people voting there impacted the rate-defined seats dramatically), a faster development started with comprehensive repairs. From 2004, when Ferenc Gyurcsány came to power, BKV
BKV
BKV is the unified public transport company of Budapest, established in 1968...
started a modernization, by 2010 50% of the city's roads were reconstructed, only the northwestern sector of M0
M0 motorway (Hungary)
The M0 motorway is a ringroad around Budapest, the capital of Hungary. The ring presently connects motorways M1, M7, M6, M5, M4, M3, M2, connecting currently to Highway 11. The southern section of the ringroad currently does not comply with formal motorway specifications. The whole length of the...
was missing, the tunnel of metro line 4 was finished and line 2 was reconstructed, 1 more bridge was built and 3 others were completely reconstructed and renovated. Sewage treatment increased from 51% to 100%, pipe-coverage also increased to 100%. The lighting and traffic-light systems were reconstructed with energy-efficient and non-skypolluting lamps, and the central heating and electric power systems were also reconstructed. In the two last terms the problems to be worked against and finally decreased were rapid increase in modern cars and traffic, and intrusive effects of nighlife. The attention of the local government gradually turned to cityscape-planning, reconstruction and bettering services as funds of most infrastructure-modernization programs freed up.
Criticism
His party initiated the dissolution of the central local government to district governments with significant powers like decisions of layouts of areas on the micro-level, or deciding on allowing demolition of large areas after selling them to private investors, which in return built and paved roads and overpasses and built and reconstructed pipes in outer districts. He after getting elected as mayor worked for recentralizing the city, but could never get the parliament modify the law created during the moment of the second world melting forever. He became a vocal critic of the districts for achieving accelerated improvenment at the cost of intrusion to the structure of the city, especially to its contiguous areas with potential in tourism or historical reconstruction, and he also became a vocal critic of the passages of the local government law applying to the capital. The districts in turn complained of negligence from the metropolitan government's part and unfair dealings and distribution of funds and cooperation which outer districts and even professionals of the metropolitan government described as solving problems beginning from the center. His administration was also criticized for not stepping into direct oversight of the financial activities of its companies. This was achieved in cooperation with government agencies (National Bureau of Investigation, Police) during the last government's country-level program of transparency.In 2006, after the Ferenc Gyurcsány
Ferenc Gyurcsány
Ferenc Gyurcsány is a Hungarian politician. He was the sixth Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009.He was nominated to take that position on 25 August 2004 by the Hungarian Socialist Party , after Péter Medgyessy resigned due to a conflict with the Socialist Party's coalition partner...
's audiotape-created political crisis broke out, Demszky's actions to seek ways to limit or otherwise restrict demonstrations critical of the government were criticised by his party's opposition and as well as by civil rights groups. He ordered the posting of 100-150 signs forbidding agricultural vehicles to use Budapest's main roads and enter the city center, to prevent an agricultural association staging a protest against the government and also he initiated a regulation, that mandates a permission to be obtained from the mayor's office to set up a stage for the purpose of a political event and also mandates a permission to be obtained for placing vehicles on public property for non-parking reasons. The regulation has been passed in the city council by the government majority, but it has been widely criticised for contradicting the constitution and the law which regulates public assembly (this is a so called qualified majority law, i.e. in order to modify that law, a 2/3 majority has to be obtained in the national assembly). In an interview, Demszky stated that the reason for forbidding the agricultural vehicles was that they would have eroded the freshly reconstructed roads and would have completely distrupted the full traffic of Budapest and since that they would have expressed only a few hundred people's opinion, it was unacceptable. Nevertheless, he thought that the protest had no real basis, as all fund transfers were done that year, the vehicles were funded by the government 40-45%, and the leaders of the agricultural association happening to organise were members of that Fidesz fraction which agitated to radicals in front of parliament, and refused to be present in the assembly during the Prime Minister's speeches, the only difference was that these members have drawn into battle their supporters' vehicles which they had too. However, he stated he never denied the right of protesting and only protected the reconstructed roads from vehicles not supposed to function there.
Honours and awards
: On 29 February 2008 received a copy of the key of the city of TiranaTirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
on the occasion of his state visit to Albania.