Our research revealed not only the conflicting approaches in what political strategy should be followed, but also, among other things, how DK occupied new positions in the capital, and what tactical mistakes Momentum made at the beginning of the term. We also found out how Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s old friend became one of the most influential people in city hall, and how the mayor complained about his political allies to senior government officials during their talks. We contacted Kar\u00e1csony with several questions about his role in these events but he did not respond to our inquiries.<\/p>\n
I. The Mayor\u2019s men<\/h2>\n
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![\"\"](\"http:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/karacsony_kampanyban.jpg\")
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Gergely Kar\u00e1csony’s staff was hopeful while watching incoming election results on the evening of October 13 last year. Victory was not yet sure when the politician’s phone started ringing. Kar\u00e1csony was not around because he had just started walking to the bathroom, but a staffer glanced at the phone and saw Budapest mayor Istv\u00e1n Tarl\u00f3s’s name on the display. \u201cHold it in and pick this up,\u201d his colleague shouted after him.<\/p>\n
Tarl\u00f3s called to concede and to congratulate his opponent on his victory. It was already clear from incoming partial results that Kar\u00e1csony was about to win, but the call was another clear sign of victory.<\/p>\n
For Kar\u00e1csony, this was an old plan coming to fruition. One of his friends recalled that roughly twenty years ago, well before Kar\u00e1csony started his political career, he had said that if he entered politics, becoming mayor of Budapest would be his goal. He liked that this path was different from “cut-throat national politics.” He was already considering his candidacy in 2014, but at that time he did not think a win \u00a0against Tarl\u00f3s was realistic. Instead, he chose to run for mayor in the district of Zugl\u00f3 (14th district) where his chances were better, and where he did indeed manage to win.<\/p>\n
After his unsuccessful candidacy for prime minister in 2018, he considered a run for a seat in the European Parliament to continue his career in Brussels, but eventually rejected the idea. Since he does not speak English, it would have been difficult for him to be successful there anyway. However, according to his acquaintances, what really held him back was that he was more interested in domestic politics and he also felt that he finally had a real chance of becoming the mayor of Budapest. When he had a deeper conversation on about it with one of his confidants around Christmas time in late 2018, he made it clear that he wanted to go in that direction. “Isn’t that what we wanted all along?” -Kar\u00e1csony asked during the conversation.<\/p>\n
Although polls showed a close race even in the final days of the mayoral campaign with several pollsters suggesting Tarl\u00f3s\u2019s likely victory, most of Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s staff were optimistic about the election on Sunday, October 13, 2019. They felt that their campaign was more dynamic than that of Fidesz. Based on their analysis, they did not lag behind Fidesz in advertising or mobilization \u2013 perhaps they even surpassed them.<\/p>\n
For the venue for the election party, the campaign team booked Kazim\u00edr Bistro on Kazinczy Street in downtown Budapest. The core team settled in a smaller room on the top floor of the restaurant. Through their laptops, they had direct access to the voting results of the National Election Office. These results were then copied into their own databases by their data analysts, D\u00e1niel R\u00f3na and \u00c1d\u00e1m Ag\u00f3cs, in order to create projections of the final result. Kar\u00e1csony, who had previously worked for a long time as a political analyst, also joined them in analyzing the data.<\/p>\n
When the first final results from some polling places began to pour in, the campaign staff became even more confident. \u201cAfter maybe three polling station results came in, Gerg\u0151 said \u2018okay, we got it\u2019. He said that now he was going to memorize his victory speech,\u201d one of those present recalled, adding that Kar\u00e1csony said this just as a joke at the time and stayed by the computers.<\/p>\n
Not long after, however, victory became clear and the mood in the room instantly changed. Staffers hugged each other, and the restaurant became more and more crowded. There were also people showing up who were not directly involved in the campaign, but now they also wanted to bathe in the success. For example, according to a campaign staff member, there was a well-known artist whom they hadrepeatedly asked during the campaign to help them with his art. The artist declined because he did not want to risk losing government subsidy. However, on election night, he also appeared in Kazim\u00edr.<\/p>\n
Kar\u00e1csony delivered his victory speech at 400 Bar, a nearby venue where the press center was set up. Surrounded by representatives of opposition parties in front of a poster with the slogan \u2018Budapest for Everyone\u2019, he said thank you to the team that worked on his campaign. Several of them have been with Kar\u00e1csony ever since and play a key role in the running of the city.<\/p>\n
For example, Zolt\u00e1n G\u00e1l J., who was the campaign manager in charge of communication and strategic affairs, stayed with him. G\u00e1l, who has \u00a0worked as a journalist earlier in his career, gained political experience in the 2000s and held senior positions in the governments of P\u00e9ter Medgyessy and then Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny. He joined Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s team as speech writing consultant during the campaign of the 2018 parliamentary elections. Kar\u00e1csony used to write his speeches himself, but then he started trying out speechwriters. One of his confidants said that G\u00e1l was the first who \u201cwrote a speech that he (Kar\u00e1csony) actually liked\u201d.<\/p>\n
G\u00e1l is in charge of planning political strategy at city hall and continues to be part of Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s inner circle. Although some welcomed him to city hall with suspicion because of his participation in the MSZP (Socialist) governments before 2010, he eventually proved them wrong. \u201cG\u00e1l J. is extremely progressive, he is a visionary dude who sometimes has to be pulled down to earth. He really isn\u2019t an old-school Socialist,\u201d said Andr\u00e1s Szeles, who was a member of the campaign staff and then worked as civil society desk officer at thecity hall.<\/p>\n
Samu Balogh also followed Kar\u00e1csony to the city hall. He helped Kar\u00e1csony as policy director and personal assistant during the campaign. Balogh, who previously worked on urban planning projects, is still only 28 years old and had no major political experience before the election. Last autumn, however, he was given one of the most important positions at the city hall: he became Gergely Kar\u00e1csony’s chief of staff. Chiefs of staff typically play a key role in managing the team of a particular leader, so they tend to have great power within the organization. In the current city hall, however, this is a little different.<\/p>\n
According to sources familiar with his work, Balogh continues to be more preoccupied with urban planning issues such as bike lanes. He also occasionally appears in public to talk about these topics, but in the meantime, he has less influence over city hall operations. A source who is in regular contact with him, for example, said that \u201cI had experienced \u00a0several times that he couldn\u2019t make a decision or take a stand,\u201d but said he needed to discuss the matter with other members of Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s staff first.<\/p>\n
Ambrus Kiss, who holds the position of Deputy Mayor for General Affairs, is a less visible but more influential player. He had not worked with Kar\u00e1csony earlier, but they knew each other. After last October\u2019s election victory, he was asked to help run the city hall. \u201cIt was clear that we needed a deputy mayor who is not interested in making public appearances, but who can convey the will of the mayor during day-to-day operations,\u201d a city hall source explained the considerations behind his selection. Kiss, a political scientist, gained his experience in public service before 2010 as a close associate of P\u00e9ter Kiss, one of the most influential ministers of Socialist governments. In his current position, his main task is overseeing the budget andtogether with the Chief Notary, managing the city hall\u2019s bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
There is another man in Kar\u00e1csony’s inner circle whose title sounds modest, but, according to city hall sources, is the mayor’s closest confidant. He is chief legal adviser Csaba Tordai, who is not even listed among the leadership on the municipality’s website. In reality, however, he is one of the most influential people at the city hall. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCsaba is the gatekeeper,\u201d a city hall source said, adding that before anything is signed by Kar\u00e1csony, Tordai as \u201cchief lawyer\u201d checks everything legally. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n According to sources familiar with the operations of the city hall, the chief adviser also plays a key role in large-scale projects such as the redevelopment of parking in the capital.<\/span><\/p>\n Tordai is not only one of Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s closest associates, but also one of his oldest friends. Although Tordai studied law and Kar\u00e1csony studied sociology at university, they were both interested in politics and both participated in a research project on the history of Roundtable Talks during the regime change. Later, during the 2002 elections, they also worked together for Medi\u00e1n, a polling company.<\/p>\n Their careers then went in different directions, but their friendship remained close. While Kar\u00e1csony worked as an analyst for a long time, Tordai, described by his acquaintances as an exceptionally talented lawyer, chose a career in politics and public administration. His career took off so fast that he was not even 30 years old, when from the beginning of 2008, he already worked as Secretary of State for Legal and Administrative Affairs in the Prime Minister\u2019s Office. After the change of power in 2010, he left government and started a private law practice, and later became co-owner of the non-profit company that publishes the investigative journalism website \u00c1tl\u00e1tsz\u00f3.hu. (He quit the company after joining the city hall\u2019s leadership.)<\/p>\n Kar\u00e1csony asked Tordai in early August last year to help him draft the future structure of the city hall. Tordai was tasked with drafting an organization structure that could work even \u00a0with the so-called rainbow coalition consisting of several smaller parties. Although the various opposition parties were able to cooperate in a surprisingly smooth way during the campaign, especially in its last months, it was expected that conflicts would resurface once they came to power. Tordai wanted to create a structure for this situation, whereby an issue would be effectively dealt with from the beginning through getting supporting votes at the city council all the way to implementation.<\/p>\n The lawyer has learned from his previous government experiences that it is not the top positions that matter, but the second and third ones, because an organization\u2019s effectiveness is defined by those positions. Therefore, he wanted to strenghten this part of the municipality. In the meantime, however, he not only worked on the structural concept of the organization, but he himself hired people for positions. \u201cHe wanted to create focal points where all implementations \u00a0depend on his people,\u201d said a city hall official who was also brought into the organization by Tordai. Thus, a structure was created at the top of \u00a0city hall in which Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s friend and confidant could play a pivotal role.<\/p>\n \u201cI really hate this government, but I hate the Democratic Coalition even more.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Gergely Kar\u00e1csony said this during a meeting that took place in his office at the end of February, according to a participant.<\/p>\n The meeting was set up to prepare the next session of the Budapest Capital Public Development Council, which functions as a forum to facilitate negotiations between the government and the Budapest municipality. At the meeting, Kar\u00e1csony was accompanied by two of his staff members and the government was represented by minister heading the prime minister\u2019s office Gergely Guly\u00e1s, state secretary in charge of Budapest developments Bal\u00e1zs F\u00fcrjes and CEO of the Budapest Development Center D\u00e1vid Vit\u00e9zy.<\/p>\n The atmosphere behind closed doors was friendly and informal. The issue of Budapest theaters came up, which was at that time on the agenda between the government and the municipality. While chatting about the objections coming from Democratic Coalition (DK) that were slowing the negotiations, several participants made sarcastic comments about the opposition party.<\/p>\n That is when Kar\u00e1csony, who has a tendency to use harsh words about his political allies behind closed doors, made the critical comment about the party. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEveryone was criticizing and joking about DK at that meeting, so it did not stand out at all when Kar\u00e1csony said that he hated them more than he hates Fidesz,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n one of the participants said.<\/p>\n However, there were obviously more serious issues behind the jokes. Kar\u00e1csony was critical about the activities of Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny from the start of his political career, and while they have since become political allies, their relation remains cold.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s campaign revealed several episodes which poisoned their relationship. Kar\u00e1csony felt that DK deceived him when, in last June, the party unexpectedly announced that it would run former TV host Olga K\u00e1lm\u00e1n as a candidate in the primaries for the Budapest mayor\u2019s position. Previously, DK had promised Kar\u00e1csony to support his candidacy, but the party\u2019s successful campaign at the European parliamentary elections in May 2019 apparently had boosted their own ambitions.<\/p>\n This was difficult to swallow for Kar\u00e1csony, because he was going through a rocky period politically then. Fidesz was heavily attacking him for parking scandals linked to the time when he was mayor of a Budapest district, and the opposition\u2019s primaries were also in trouble after candidate R\u00f3bert Puzs\u00e9r, a controversial media figure, backed out of them. \u201cGerg\u0151\u2019s campaign at that time was going down, he wasn\u2019t at his best, this was a bad period,\u201d one member of his campaign team said.<\/p>\n In the end, Kar\u00e1csony won the primaries, and his campaign likely benefited from a clear victory over DK\u2019s candidate. Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny has since been jokingly brushing aside the K\u00e1lm\u00e1n episode whenever it comes up during discussions between parties. The DK president likes to say that it \u201chelped create a real competition, which was good for Kar\u00e1csony, as he came out of the race stronger,\u201d one source attending such meetings said.<\/p>\n DK also believes that in fact it was Kar\u00e1csony who broke his campaign promises. According to the party, in January 2019 Kar\u00e1csony made several promises to DK, among others that he would stay neutral in the European Parliamentary elections in Mmay and would not support the candidates of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and P\u00e1rbesz\u00e9d (Dialogue). However, DK claims that Kar\u00e1csony did not keep his promise and campaigned for certain candidates. \u201cIt was not DK who broke its promise, it was Kar\u00e1csony who did not honor the agreement,\u201d one leading politician of the party said.<\/p>\n While the last months of the election campaign were largely peaceful, it only took a few months after the victory for an open conflict to emerge between the two sides. This was related to the issue of theaters and resulted in a saber-rattling between Gyurcs\u00e1ny and Kar\u00e1csony at the February closed door meeting of the opposition parties.<\/p>\n The conflict was preceded by a government-introduced change to theater financing, which gave the government the right to appoint directors of theaters that receive state funding. This right would have remained with the Budapest municipality only if it agreed to finance the theaters on its own. It seemed that the government proposed to change the system because it did not want directors appointed under the previous Fidesz-backed mayor ousted from Budapest theaters. The government considered it a bad sign that the municipality did not prolong the mandate of one such director, Teod\u00f3ra B\u00e1n at the Open Air Theater, despite the backing of the municipality\u2019s own professional committee.<\/p>\n Kar\u00e1csony was leaning toward a compromise, but DK opposed to give up theaters to the government. The conflict escalated when DK threatened not to support the municipality\u2019s budget, but in the end a compromise solution was found that calmed the situation.<\/p>\n According to the compromise, the city agreed that it would finance four out of twelve Budapest theaters (Katona J\u00f3zsef, Radn\u00f3ti, \u00d6rk\u00e9ny and Traf\u00f3), and the Open Air Theater was split to two, since the government insisted on B\u00e1n\u2019s leadership. B\u00e1n then remained director of the section located on Budapest\u2019s Margaret Island.<\/p>\n This chapter in the open conflict closed but did not end fully, as DK kept paying close attention to the details of Open Air Theater\u2019s division and even to which furniture B\u00e1n was moving from her old office to the new one. According to a city hall source, DK-delegated deputy mayor Erzs\u00e9bet Gy. N\u00e9meth was upset about \u201cTeod\u00f3ra B\u00e1n wanting to take even the white leather couch.\u201d (Another municipality source told that B\u00e1n was in the end unable to take the furniture because it was not among the items agreed during the inventory.)<\/p>\n Gy. N\u00e9meth is a veteran politician. Between 2002 and 2010 she served as MSZP\u2019s member of parliament and has also been active in local municipal politics for years. Her political past exceeds that of Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s or most of his cabinet members\u2019. What also makes a difference between Gy. N\u00e9meth and Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s other deputies is that she is more strongly representing her own party\u2019s interests. This also means that she has less autonomy in discussions relating to politically sensitive topics. \u201cShe often says that she has to first check with her party chairman,\u201d one city hall source said.<\/p>\n DK is more disciplined compared with other opposition parties. Party chairman Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny dictates the direction and he clearly sees municipal politics differently from Kar\u00e1csony.<\/p>\n According to one leading party member, the problem is that Kar\u00e1csony and his team \u201ctreat deputies as employees,\u201d and municipal bureaucrats are trying to make politics instead of the parties.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n DK believes that this should be the other way around because the deputy mayors represent the voters of their own parties.<\/p>\n DK is indeed doing everything to push through its agenda in the decision-making of the municipality. This is true in particular since this February when its position in the general assembly strengthened after two MSZP mayors joined the DK faction. The party\u2019s representation grew to six, while MSZP\u2019s decreased to five people in the 33-member assembly.<\/p>\n Since DK\u2019s faction has become the largest within the opposition, the party clashed with its coalition partners on several occasions in the general assembly. One such episode happened at the end of August, when DK announced in a statement that it would not support the increase of funeral fees and the city hall\u2019s leadership had to withdraw the issue from next day\u2019s agenda. \u201cFollowing half a year of preparations they state publicly at the very last moment that they do not support it. This is unacceptable, this does not help coalition cooperation,\u201d a city hall source angry with DK\u2019s actions said. However, a DK politician claimed that they signaled their disagreement in time, but the city hall just did not take it into consideration.<\/p>\n DK\u2019s opposition almost killed a city hall proposal at the last assembly at the end of September. MSZP deputy mayor Kata T\u00fctt\u0151\u2019s proposal concerned the municipality-owned Budapest Waterworks\u2019 cooperation with a Turkish investor in a joint sewage treatment project in a Turkish city. DK did not support the project, with one of their arguments being that a municipal company should not be involved in international projects. The general assembly session attempted twice to hold a vote but both times DK rejected the proposal. The first vote was followed by a break and then the motion passed with Fidesz votes.<\/p>\n However, Kar\u00e1csony might take some comfort in enjoying friendlier relations with his other coalition partners.<\/p>\n MSZP, once a major party but now being stuck at around 4-7 percent in opinion polls, is standing by Kar\u00e1csony. He was the party\u2019s prime ministerial candidate in 2018 and they supported him in the mayoral election campaign too. One of the party\u2019s most important politicians and head of its Budapest chapter Zsolt Moln\u00e1r played a key role together with Kar\u00e1csony in making opposition cooperation happen. In addition, \u00c1d\u00e1m Ag\u00f3cs, formerly working with the party and dealing with data analysis, was a senior member of Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s campaign team.<\/p>\n MSZP-delegated deputy mayor Kata T\u00fctt\u0151 has also been working without generating controversies. Although T\u00fctt\u0151 received some criticism inside the opposition in the municipal election campaign due to business deals of her former partner, Hungarian billionaire Tam\u00e1s Leisztinger, sources with knowledge about the city hall\u2019s operations describe her as a hard-working manager with detailed knowledge about issues in her portfolio.<\/p>\n Momentum also counts as Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s trusted ally and the party put a lot of effort into convincing its voters to back the politician. Internal polls showed that 5-10 percent of its voters supported Fidesz-backed mayor Tarl\u00f3s, 10-15 percent Puzs\u00e9r, and approximately 10 percent of them would have stayed at home. According to one leading Momentum politician, their voters do not trust the \u201cold left-wing parties\u201d and Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s image was overshadowed by his past as the MSZP\u2019s prime ministerial candidate in 2018. So the party tried to convince its voters by having its better-known politicians publicly campaigning on Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s side.<\/p>\n However, following the election victory, the party was hesitant about participating in the governing coalition of the city hall and whether it should delegate a deputy-mayor or provide just external backing to Kar\u00e1csony. The party wanted to avoid becoming a sort of junior partner that would be overshadowed by bigger and more experienced players. But 24 hours before the inaugural assembly meeting, Momentum decided that they could have a bigger influence on day-to-day operations of the municipality if they take part in its leadership. So they appointed G\u00e1bor Kerpel-Fronius as deputy-mayor, who was the party\u2019s candidate during the summer primaries.<\/p>\n Coalition negotiations quickly revealed Momentum\u2019s inexperience. The party received a portfolio that included smart city projects, sustainability developments and decision-making based on voter participation. At first, this seemed as a good choice for Momentum as they had campaigned with similarly progressive issues, but later it turned out that they had been given relatively unimportant areas. One source with links to the party recalled that when he heard about this portfolio, he instantly asked the party leadership: \u201cokay, but where is the money in these?\u201d<\/p>\n Momentum\u2019s portfolio is not linked to big municipal institutions or companies, and carries little influence.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, we can see that we did not make the best decision,\u201d a leading party politician acknowledged.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The past year contained lessons learned also for G\u00e1bor Kerpel-Fronius, a former IT manager who is a newcomer in politics. He is sometimes being criticized by his party for not being able to display Momentum\u2019s character at the city hall due to his restrained, conflict averse style. Kerpel-Fronius is not satisfied either. According to one party member, he himself usually also notes that his \u201cportfolio does not have the best composition.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Momentum hopes that they will have the opportunity to change this and redesign the portfolio. In any case, the party is not alone with its frustrations at the city hall.<\/p>\n MSZP\u2019s Budapest chairman, Zsolt Moln\u00e1r, was annoyed by the city hall\u2019s most striking traffic measure, and he regularly complained to Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s staff about it. Over the summer, he sent text messages to one of the mayor\u2019s confidants saying that \u201cI\u2019m stuck here on the boulevard in a traffic jam and I haven\u2019t seen a single cyclist, let\u2019s drop this bike lane issue already\u201d. At other times, when he arrived late for city hall meetings, Moln\u00e1r would tauntigly remark that he had not arrived on time because of the bike lane.<\/p>\n In April 2020, when the pandemic essentially stopped urban traffic, bicycle lanes marked with yellow paint appeared on Budapest\u2019s Grand Boulevard, restricting car traffic to a single lane in certain sections. These lanes remained even after the epidemic eased, which many motorists did not like.<\/p>\n Zsolt Moln\u00e1r was not the only influential opposition politician among the critics. DK\u2019s Budapest party chairman Norbert Trippon issued a statement calling for the reconsideration of the new traffic order, while Gy. N\u00e9meth repeatedly indicated at city hall that the issue was politically sensitive for her party. According to one of the mayor’s staff, while designing the bike lanes, \u201cthere were internal jokes\u201d that these lanes should be painted in a way that Gy. N\u00e9meth would not see them when she would come to work. However, MSZP and DK were sincerely feeling \u00a0pressure from their own voters. A city hall politician of the Socialist party said that they received fifty complaints a day from activists and party members about the bike lanes. \u201cThere are motorists among us. There are those who are unsure whether this battle can be won. It causes a lot of tension in a lot of people, and that falls back on us,\u201d the source explained.<\/p>\n At the end of August, mayors of the districts affected by the new bike lanes \u2013 Krisztina Baranyi from the IX., Andr\u00e1s Pik\u00f3 from the VIII., P\u00e9ter Niederm\u00fcller from the VII. and Tam\u00e1s Soproni from the VI. district \u2013 were invited to the city hall for consultation. \u201cInterestingly, there was a consensus that entirely removing the bike lanes would be the worst solution , no one wanted that\u201d, mayor Pik\u00f3 said about this discussion. It was the common goal to keep as much of the new lanes as possible. \u00a0In the meantime, they also knew they had to prepare for winter when car traffic would increases and cycling decrease.<\/p>\n In the end, they came up with a solution where two-lane car traffic was restored on J\u00f3zsef boulevard, the busiest section. At the same time, the bike lane was redirected to the parking lane and even to the sidewalk on certain sections. While several politicians in Budapest still see this as a positive step to curb car traffic in the long run, the change has been widely criticized, even by independent media and cycling organizations and advocacy groups.<\/p>\n However, this story was far from being the only similar example from the past year. The city\u2019s administration originally campaigned on progressive ideas and the promise of modernizing Budapest. However, eventually realized that ambitious plans were difficult to implement.<\/p>\n In February, the city hall introduced a team of chief advisers to the mayor who were tasked with bringing a new perspective to the operations of the capital.\u00a0Most of the advisers were selected from civil society roles. The pool of advisers includes \u00c1mon Ada, an energy specialist with international experience, Marietta Le, an expert on initiatives aimed at fixing urban problems, and B\u00e1lint Misetics, an activist of the housing rights organization called The City is for All, helping the homeless and the poor.<\/p>\n The idea was that these advisers would have their own organizational units, departments, and use them to implement specific projects that Kar\u00e1csony promised in the campaign. This would also have required the adoption of new bylaws at city hall, which, however, has not happened to date. \u201cThere were only some modifications, but there was no large-scale official change, even as a year has slowly passed since the election,\u201d a city hall official said. According to the source, the advisers cannot really do meaningful work without new bylaws, because many of them have difficulty even hiring \u00a0people. There was even an official who worked alongside them but eventually became fed up with inactivity and quit.<\/p>\n Things did not go according to Kar\u00e1csony’s plans at one of the most important companies of the capital, the Centre for Budapest Transport (BKK), which is responsible for traffic management and development in Budapest.<\/p>\n Kar\u00e1csony originally wanted the company to be led by D\u00e1vid Vit\u00e9zy, a renowned public transportation specialist who has multiple ties to the government. In the days following the election victory, the two met in person. Kar\u00e1csony wanted to inquire whether Vit\u00e9zy, who had previously run the company, would be interested in becoming the new CEO. The rumor that Vit\u00e9zy could head the BKK spread at the city hall and was received enthusiastically by people close to the Momentum party. However, in the end, Vit\u00e9zy said no. According to a source familiar with his decision, it was largely due to the fact that he believed that the parties \u2013 especially the DK \u2013 wanted to exert too much influence over the company.<\/p>\n In the end, he was not entirely wrong. The Mayor’s office, as it was originally planned, advertised the the position, for which several internal people from BKK applied. Ivett Varga, BKK’s former director of strategy and innovation, emerged as the winner of the competition. According to a source closely following the selection process, Varga’s application was outstanding. However, her chances were hurt by the fact that BKK Chairman of the Board Tibor Draskovics \u2013 who was delegated by the DK and previously had held senior positions in Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny\u2019s government \u2013 wanted to see another candidate in the position of CEO.<\/p>\n There were previous press reports about and several high-ranking city hall and BKK sources corroborated it to Direkt36, but Draskovics has now denied this at our request. However, he did not want to specify which candidate he supported. He admitted that he talked to Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s staff about choosing the new BKK leader, but, according to him, these conversations were only about what type of leader would be best suitable.<\/p>\n Ivett Varga, who was appointed as CEO on February 1, did not hold the position for long, as Kar\u00e1csony soon had to dismiss her. According to the official statement, Varga had to go because of problematic traffic measures taken during the pandemic. However, according to leaked information, the alleged harassment case against an employee with close ties to her also played a role. However, accorindg to a source familiar with BKK\u2019s affairs, Varga’s departure also meant that Draskovics\u2019 Influence over the company strenghtened.<\/p>\n The BKK story also shed light on one of the weak spots of city hall. The supervision of the company belongs to deputy mayor D\u00e1vid Dorosz from the Dialogue party.,He started his work related to BKK with a controversial step. He indicated that he would like to have an office in the company’s headquarters on Rumbach Sebesty\u00e9n Street. However, this was not welcome by BKK’s management because they thought it would have excessively interfered with the company’s operations. In the end Dorosz did not get an office at BKK, but preventing it required Kar\u00e1csony’s intervention. The mayor wrote a letter to each of his deputies asking them to exercise their powers in accordance with the law. According to a BKK and a city hall source, this letter was clearly directed at Dorosz.<\/p>\n Later, when internal conflicts at BKK escalated, Dorosz was conspicuously absent from the company.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t even heard of Dorosz,\u201d a BKK source said, adding that \u201cit was also a topic in informal conversations within the company that although on paper Dorosz is the boss at BKK, \u00a0it is actually not him who manages it\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the end, Kar\u00e1csony and his staff had to be directly involved in the events that ended with the dismissal of Ivett Varga.<\/p>\n These issues with Dorosz are delicate for the mayor because Dorosz is a fellow Dialogue party member and an old ally of his. Dorosz, who was once a member of LMP (Politics Can Be Different) and later switched to the Dialogue party with Kar\u00e1csony. He was also one of the 2019 campaign managers, although his work ethic had already shocked several staff members. One of them recalled, for example, that at a campaign staff meeting, Dorosz was more preoccupied with the cover of his own upcoming book than with what was going on in the discussion.<\/p>\n According to sources who are in contact with Dorosz, it is typical of him that to be more interested in public appearances than in digging into work issues. \u201cHe likes to take photos of himself. Even at a work meeting, he started posing and telling others not to pay attention to him, just go on with the meeting. Then he told the photographer to continue shooting,\u201d a source said. \u201cHe is the type of person who comes in for a meeting and occupies himself with his mobile phone all the way through, and sometimes yelps \u2018uh, that\u2019s good\u2019,\u201d a city hall official said about Dorosz\u2019a leadership style. \u201cWhat he does well, however, is that he is surrounded by very good staffers, for example, they write him quite tolerable speeches, and he also has good posts on Facebook, his communication is well managed,\u201d the source added.<\/p>\n His attitude resulted in Dorosz losing influence at \u00a0city hall. While previously, for example, projects like the renovation of the Chain Bridge belonged to him, more recently it has been transferred to MSZP deputy mayor Kata T\u00fctt\u0151. There were already overlaps between their duties, by now T\u00fctt\u0151 has clearly become the more influential player. \u201cThose who are good managers, attract more issues and power. A large organization is like a glacier, it moves under its own inertia, and grinds down everything that can\u2019t move with it. In this way, leaders are made during operation,\u201d one of Kar\u00e1csony’s close colleagues said about the shifting powers between Dorosz and T\u00fctt\u0151.<\/p>\n In a written reply to Direkt36’s questions, Dorosz did not dispute the factuality of any of the allegations. He said it was up to the voters to judge the work done during the campaign, and he said last year\u2019s election results were\u201ca clear answer\u201d. He did not directly respond to the question as to why he wanted an office at the BKK headquarters for himself, nor did he express his opinion on Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s letter. When asked why issues and authorities had been diverted from him, he replied that the renovation of the Chain Bridge had been transferred to T\u00fctt\u0151 due to the change in the size of the project. He also said that he could always be happy to “work together as a team” to make Budapest more livable.<\/p>\n However, it was not only Dorosz whose performance was seen as problematic. During confidential off the record conversations, opposition politicians all emphasized how difficult it is to fill positions with competent and knowledgeable people after having been in opposition for a long period. \u201cIf rookie politicians are taking control after nine years (in opposition), it\u2019s natural to have growing pains. Before, these politicians had only made plans about their next performance in ATV\u2019s Straight Talk talk show. Now, they have to run an institution, which is a big leap,\u201d one of Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s confidants said. According to the source, opposition-led municipalities are now live testing which politicians would be suitable for government work.<\/p>\n Other opposition politicians say that they have been lucky with the current situation, because at least they can now learn at the municipal level, and if a change of government is to take place, they will be better prepared to take control of the whole country. As one of them put it, \u201cthis is just a little sandbox now, but that\u2019s going to be a brutal sandstorm\u201d.<\/p>\n When Gergely Kar\u00e1csony spoke to Antal Rog\u00e1n earlier this year, the senior Fidesz politician repeated to him a message that had long been circulated in government circles. According to a source close to the mayor, Kar\u00e1csony was often approached by Fidesz politicians during his time as mayor of Zugl\u00f3, saying that if he broke away from left-wing parties, attacks against him would stop. This was not much of a political reality for Kar\u00e1csony, as he became mayor there as a candidate supported by all the left-wing parties.<\/p>\n He won the post of mayor in a similar way, yet Rog\u00e1n handed him the familiar message. Kar\u00e1csony has long known the Fidesz politician since they both attended Sz\u00e9chenyi College as university students and, according to a fellow student, they were not friends, \u201cbut they were no enemies either.\u201d<\/p>\n They had at least one conversation this year as well, which Kar\u00e1csony later relayed to one of his subordinates that \u201cT\u00f3ni also said that I should break away from them,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n referring to Rog\u00e1n by his nickname. (We also asked Rog\u00e1n about this conversation, but he did not respond to our request.)<\/p>\n Kar\u00e1csony is now one of the best-known left-wing politicians, so he is even less likely to step away from the parties that support him. Perhaps this is also the reason why the messages have become more aggressive recently. At least in an early summer interview, Kar\u00e1csony said that when he sent a message to Viktor Orb\u00e1n that he did not want to run Budapest in a war climate, the response was that \u201cthat prime minister decided that they are waging a jihad\u201d. According to a City Hall source, Antal Rog\u00e1n was one of the sources through whom Kar\u00e1csony received this message.<\/p>\n Yet after a municipal election last October, the relationship between the new leadership of the capital and the government was surprisingly peaceful initially. Orb\u00e1n promised that the government would abide by all the agreements concerning Budapest, and he also invited Kar\u00e1csony to the government meeting where the developments in Budapest were discussed.<\/p>\n There has been co-operation at lower, professional levels ever since, what a government source likened to a reverse water polo match. While water polo players often brutally fight each other underwater, invisibly to spectators, it is at this level that the government and the Budapest can work well together. Cooperation in tourism and certain legal issues (such as the regulation of Airbnb) is smooth. Consultations at the Budapest-government cooperation forum, the Budapest Public Development Council are friendly and productive. According to a City Hall source, it also shows how calm these meetings tend to be that one of the government delegates once fell asleep during a gathering.<\/p>\n At the higher political level, however, the relationship has become very tense. One of the conflicts revolves around whether the government is trying to punish Budapest. The government claim that they leave enough money to operate at the capital, but City Hall says the government is giving misleading figures and its new taxes are putting the city, which has already suffered severe economic damage as a result of the epidemic, at further risk.<\/p>\n A similar debate is taking place around the planned renovation of one of the Chain Bridge, one of the city\u2019s most iconic sites. The government says the investment has not started due to the inaction of Budapest. However, according to City Hall, the reason for the delay was that they want to make sure that the project is well-prepared and free of corruption. They also say that the government had not provided enough money for the project.<\/p>\n The other, more spectacular part of the conflict takes place on a personal level. Fidesz politicians and pro-government newspapers are constantly accusing Kar\u00e1csony of being unfit for the office. Viktor Orb\u00e1n himself joined in, making demeaning comments about the mayor. For example, in a May interview, he called Kar\u00e1csony a theoretical man who can\u2019t assemble any furniture and arrives late for a pig slaughter. According to a government source, people in Fidesz circles took note of this because they did not understand why Orb\u00e1n was raising Kar\u00e1csony to his own level with such direct personal criticism.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I don\u2019t see into Orb\u00e1n\u2019s head, maybe the goal was to designate his own rival,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n The government\u2019s goal with the attacks is to lay the groundwork for the next parliamentary elections. \u201cFidesz is not interested in the 2024 mayoral election at all, but looks at everything through 2022,\u201d said a government source who said the prevailing view within the party was that the next parliamentary election could be won with rural votes, so they don\u2019t need Budapest. And the criticism of Kar\u00e1csony “unfitness” and criticisms of the Chain Bridge project, according to the source, serve the purpose of allowing Fidesz to say, “if they don\u2019t know how to run Budapest then how could they run the country?”<\/p>\n The reason behind the persistent campaign against the Kar\u00e1csony is that Fidesz is almost certain that he will be the opposition\u2019s candidate for prime minister in 2022. \u201cHe is the most popular opposition politician, according to surveys. As the parliamentary election approaches, the pressure from the leftwing intellectual circles and from abroad will increase,\u201d said a senior government official who thinks that Kar\u00e1csony will not be able to say no to that pressure.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Kar\u00e1csony claims in his official statements and in private conversations that he does not want to be a prime ministerial candidate. \u201cDon\u2019t be stupid,\u201d he replied to an opposition politicians\u2019s question, for example, when he asked Kar\u00e1csony a month ago if he would be a candidate. Kar\u00e1csony also told an old friend a few months ago that he would not run for the nomination. \u201cHe talked about how destructive character assassinations are,\u201d the friend recalled.<\/p>\n Despite Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s official and private statements, some in the opposition expect him to run for the nomination. \u201cThere seems to be an expectation that few people can meet besides him,\u201d said a senior City Hall source, who added that it would be hard for Kar\u00e1csony to avoid the candidacy because of this.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has to think about this these months. There are at least as many arguments against it as there are for it,\u201d said an opposition mayor of a Budapest district. According to the mayor, one of the counter-arguments is that a second failure after his 2018 defeat could be too destructive for Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s career. According to the source, a lot depends on whether 2022 can be won, and since he now thinks it \u201cseems to be yes,\u201d that could be be in favor of deciding to run. According to a source from the party Momentum, the final push for Kar\u00e1csony may be that he doesn\u2019t want the DK to give the prime ministerial candidate.<\/p>\n According to sources close to Kar\u00e1csony, he will seriously consider the matter and make his decision with an eye on his long-term interests. According to a source who has known the politician for a long time, Kar\u00e1csony is the only one in the opposition besides Gyurcs\u00e1ny who can think several steps ahead. \u201cThere are several politicians who can give a speech, but there are few who know what will come of it,\u201d the source said, saying that Kar\u00e1csony\u2019s own career is proof of that.<\/p>\n Kar\u00e1csony was among the first ones who pushed to opposition parties to choose their candidates through open primary elections. According to sources close to him, he realized that that this may not only be suitable for bringing the opposition together, but he can also personally benefit from it. Being a popular politician without a strong party organization behind him, he knew he had a good chance of winning in an open competition. The primary elections are likely to be used in the selection of the prime ministerial candidate as well for the 2022 parliamentary race. As a source close to him put it, Kar\u00e1csony would be \u201chard to beat in such a race.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What conflicts emerged between Gergely Kar\u00e1csony and Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny? What did Antal Rog\u00e1n tell the mayor? Who are the most influential people at Budapest\u2019s city hall? Direkt36 presents the behind-the-scenes story of the capital\u2019s opposition leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"longform.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[437],"class_list":["post-6521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ellenzeki-partok","author-andras-szabo"],"authors":[{"term_id":437,"user_id":13,"is_guest":0,"slug":"andras-szabo","display_name":"Andras Szabo","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/av_szabo_andras.png","url2x":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/av_szabo_andras.png"},"description":"[:hu]Andr\u00e1s nyolc \u00e9vig dolgozott \u00fajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00f3k\u00e9nt az Orig\u00f3n\u00e1l, \u00e9s t\u00f6bb \u00e9vet elt\u00f6lt\u00f6tt az Indexn\u00e9l \u00e9s a vs.hu-n\u00e1l is. A Direkt36-n\u00e1l az orosz-magyar kapcsolatokkal, a Fidesz-k\u00f6zeli \u00fczleti k\u00f6r\u00f6k tev\u00e9kenys\u00e9g\u00e9vel, \u00e9s az Orb\u00e1n-korm\u00e1ny d\u00f6nt\u00e9shozatal\u00e1nak folyamataival foglalkozik. 2011-ben G\u0151b\u00f6ly\u00f6s Soma-d\u00edjat, 2010-ben pedig Min\u0151s\u00e9gi \u00fajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00e1s\u00e9rt d\u00edjat nyert, mindkett\u0151t az\u00e9rt a cikksorozat\u00e1\u00e9rt, amely a Gyurcs\u00e1ny-korm\u00e1ny egyik korrupci\u00f3gyan\u00fas ingatlanelad\u00e1s\u00e1t mutatta be.\r\n[:en]Andr\u00e1s worked eight years as a journalist at Origo, a then prestigious online news site, but also spent several years at Index and vs.hu news outlets. At Direkt36 he covers Russian-Hungarian relations, activities of business circles close to Fidesz, and political decision making processes of the Orb\u00e1n government. In 2011 he received the G\u0151b\u00f6ly\u00f6s Soma Award dedicated to investigative journalism in Hungary, and in 2010 he won the Quality Journalism Award, both for a series of articles that focused on a corruption case connected to the former Socialist-led government.[:]","first_name":"Andr\u00e1s","last_name":"Szab\u00f3","user_url":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9360,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6521\/revisions\/9360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6521"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}II. Dark shades of the rainbow<\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/gyurcsany_03.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIII. Bracing for the storm<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/karacsony_biciklive.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIV. Hungarian Jihad<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/karacsony_gulyas_01.jpg\")
<\/p>\n