Index – Domestic – Gergely Karácsony: Budapest survives even if it burns
At the conference, the mayor talks about the fact that public institutions are not closed in Budapest and public lights are not turned off. The mayor is also about it spoke to ATV Hírádó that “trusting that the analyzes that say that in the second half of next year we will have to calculate with lower, more realistic energy prices, instead of the usual one- or two-year purchases, we will now purchase electricity for a quarter, and thus we provide the public services that are needed come rain or shine”.
I mean that the municipal government of the capital not really will close anything
– added Gergely Karácsony, who continued, “I can say one thing, we will survive even if we die, if this local government system survives 2023, it will withstand everything”.
There were serious speakers
László Botka, the opposition leader of Szeged, who spoke at the event, said that it is certain that the city cannot save 20-25 percent of its energy costs without closing some institutions.
“We are in the middle of energy procurement in Szeged, we have three contracts until the end of the year, so if you like, we are fine until January 1st. The energy procurement is now taking place, and we, like the municipalities of the other settlements, received almost 10 times the price of gas. In the next two weeks, it will be decided what the price of electricity, which is a much larger item in the city budget, will be,” said the mayor of Szeged.
András Cser-Palkovics, the Fidesz mayor of Székesfehérvár, explained that two groups of municipal services have been established.
One includes those that the city has to maintain.
He classified nurseries, kindergartens, and social institutions as such. For the other group of services, if no additional support is received from the state, then “you have to reach for it”, such as the winter opening hours of theaters, sports halls and swimming pools – as reported by 24.hu summed it up.
(Cover photo: Zsófi Szollár/Index)