Since 2019, I have treated the results of public opinion polls with absolute reservations. In my opinion, the entire opposition coalition is partly a farce. The majority of these parties represent ideas that are difficult to reconcile, and their ideological basis is also different, whichever one has one, said István Tarlós, former mayor of Budapest, to Demokrata.

Below are some thoughts from the article.
Has the coffers been emptied in two years?
- The functionality of a settlement is evaluated when the city operation starts to falter. But then by leaps and bounds. The public mood is very sensitive to this. Therefore, in principle, it is possible for a political community to generate political tension even against the existing power by manipulating this. I do not claim that the current city administration is specifically guided by such considerations. However, I find a few things strange.

Long before, the city administration even floated the possibility of endangering public services on posters. Then there was silence. Such problems are not usually solved on posters, and it is telling that the revelation came ante tempus. Since 2019, the city administration has continuously made confusing and imprecise statements about the capital's financial situation, always grouping the facts in different ways.

" What do you mean?"
"Two facts." The first is that we definitely left HUF 200 billion in resources in the budget. And that all of this would have been covered by an obligation is simply not true. The other is that the new city administration was able to prepare a budget in 2020 with a much higher spending plan, perhaps HUF 25-26 billion, than our 2019 budget. The city's situation could not therefore be unstable. I don't know the capital's current actual financial room for maneuver, but it is a telling sign that promises that have not been fulfilled for two years, such as free BKK travel for those under 14, are suddenly being ensured as the election approaches. This free service, together with agglomeration commuters, is worth many billions annually. It does not visually support the contents of the city administration's complaint.

"It's quite controversial."
Plus, it looks unprepared. – The sudden announcement that BKK prepared for this free service in one day, while until now they have been saying that they are forced to bend over backwards for every penny, is downright infantile. There will certainly be disruptions to public services, but it is not the first time that I have the feeling that the city administration misunderstands its authority.

"What do you mean by that?"
– Public services are the mandatory tasks of the Metropolitan Municipality. Based on the relevant legislation, a voluntarily undertaken task can only be financed if the mandatory ones have already been fulfilled. So Karácsony cannot implement any of their plans at the expense of public services.

- One has the feeling that the Karácsonys are not interested in Budapest.
They are busy with the primaries instead of running the city. What is your opinion about the opposition coalition and the opposition's electoral chances? - Since 2019, I have treated the results of public opinion polls with absolute reservations. In my opinion, the entire opposition coalition is partly a farce. The majority of these parties represent ideas that are difficult to reconcile, and their ideological basis is also different, if any have one. If they were to get into government, it is not understandable how they would be able to lead the country.

Not to mention their hair-raising views on the most important issues affecting the future of the generations that will follow us.

- What do you think?
– On immigration, the interpretation of the nation-state, family policy, the family model and culture. Their only common denominator is a tooth-grinding lust for power. God forbid you underestimate them. They call themselves democrats, but their interpretation of democracy reminds me of the people's democracy of their great predecessors. We also hear, slightly paraphrased, the phrase "from the country of the masters to the homeland of the people". At the time, a non-negligible proportion of the people were imprisoned in the name of people's power. Even now, their descendants promise similar things. A lot depends on the April election. Not for us either, but for posterity. The governing parties must be very focused on the correct indication.

the full article here.