"Very simple things we have done over four and a half years should have been part of the basic normality and were not functioning after 21 years of Fidesz city leadership." For instance, the district lacked a website that would have made council proposals accessible.

Another significant challenge identified was the housing and energy crisis, worsened by the deterioration of the district's housing stock and associated migration. "There's a high demand, it's impossible to find affordable rental housing in Budapest, and there's a huge supply with 15-20 percent of the district's housing stock standing empty. We brought these two together with the municipal housing agency," said Márta V. Naszályi, adding that they have also launched building renovation and energy efficiency programs.

What's not visible from the outside: "We inherited the municipality without a property inventory. The municipality did not know what properties it owned," emphasized Márta V. Naszályi. She also mentioned, "for example, our parking company employees showered in a moldy shower, the women's changing room was marked by a torn curtain at the corner of the men's changing room." She named the development of a green city and the creation of 15-minute urban services as the third major challenge.

"LOSES, STRANGLES, TRAMPLES, HUMILIATES"

Gergely Karácsony recognizes how challenging the past five years were, but notes, "human memory is infinitely short. Consider what the municipalities had to survive. Simply existing, that we are here, that the city functions, is a political performance in itself."

The mayor explained that the government encountered real problems over the past years – such as the coronavirus pandemic, the energy crisis, and economic issues. The municipalities did not want to compete with the government, but "saw incredible blunders" from the government during crises, leading to a de facto competition, met by the narrowing of powers and trimming of resources in response.

Gergely Karácsony highlighted, for example, that factors like the pandemic or soaring energy prices "did not arise out of malice or political decision" but reflect the challenging world we live in. "But when we fight the elements, handing out masks, tests, providing utility support, meanwhile almost every day there's a government decree that takes away, strangles, tramples, humiliates, and then we also have to tolerate government propaganda."

According to Karácsony, the direct financial impact of the pandemic situation, the energy crisis, and governmental austerity measures took 358 billion forints from the capital's municipality, with the larger portion disappearing due to government decisions.

Among other achievements, the mayor is proud that Budapest's streets no longer host Euro 1 emission standard diesel buses, all buses are low-floor, and there is also a decent public bike system. However, he believes these should have been implemented long ago, and they are just at the starting point now. "Budapest slept for 15 years, and now we're trying to take the city into the 21st century in forced march, testing the tolerance of Budapest residents, which is full of conflicts." The mayor also drew attention to the fact that the average temperature in Budapest will resemble that of Skopje in a few decades, indicating we will live in a completely different city.

Manchester Carpenters Come Here to Suffer

Csaba Horváth spoke about the significant debts the capital owed to Zugló, having neglected the district for decades, requiring much to be made up for. The district leader opined that a good mayor is fundamentally like a good building superintendent, just responsible for a larger area, but similarly must notice problems and find solutions.

"The community is what truly makes a city a good place. It's not the metros and tram networks that make the city a truly good place, but the people who live in it. They need to create a quality of collaboration that makes the city a better place," stressed the mayor of Zugló.

Péter Niedermüller believes they are definitely among those districts with the most challenging legacy from the previous leadership. "There wasn't a living person who could tell how many municipally owned apartments were in the district," said the mayor of Erzsébetváros, adding: they also didn't know how many of these apartments were habitable. They discovered nearly six hundred properties that had been inhabitable for decades in some cases.

Niedermüller sees that the previous leaders' fundamental stance was to do nothing to avoid scandal. Therefore, "there was no regulation whatsoever regarding the so-called party district."

"We started in two directions, addressing many problems that needed to be solved, but we also openly took on the role that an opposition municipality needs to engage in politics, to fulfill political functions because it's only locally that we can show the alternative governance options available. If we politic locally as we see fit, then we can say that this is what we can offer at a national level," highlighted Niedermüller Péter, revealing that they consciously took on this political role, and it had an impact. "Now, as the campaign started, the local Fidesz organization released a flyer stating that Péter Niedermüller with his delusions brought back from Brussels is ruining Erzsébetváros." The mayor revealed he indeed considers important what he learned there: to be an inclusive, open, and solidary community.

Niedermüller emphasized their ambitious goals to redefine the district, "to get rid of the bad image that Manchester carpenters come here to suffer."