PECS - A WINDOW ON HUNGARIAN POLITICS?

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUDAPEST 000113 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CE JAMIE MOORE. E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2015 TAGS: PGOV SOCI HU SUBJECT: PECS - A WINDOW ON HUNGARIAN POLITICS? REF: A. 09 BUDAPEST 909 ¶B. 09 BUDAPEST 760 Classified By: Political Counselor Paul C. O'Friel for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Pecs is off to a lurching start as a "European Cultural Capital." The new Fidesz administration has proven as inept as its Socialist predecessors in getting the city ready for this year-long event, with infrastructure upgrades months behind. Fidesz mayor Zsolt Pava appears to be using the highly popular takeover of a French-managed water utility and protests against construction of a NATO radar site as a way to distract attention from the torn up downtown area. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) Pecs, the country's fifth largest city and the site of its oldest university, lies nestled in the rolling hills of southern Hungary. With its motto "The Borderless City," Pecs has a long history of openness and tolerance; in 1998 it received UNESCO's "Cities for Peace" prize for the welcome it offered to refugees fleeing the Balkan wars. This year it shares with Essen and Istanbul the title of "European Capital of Culture." But all is not sunny in this Mediterranean-style city. The EU-funded project to transform the downtown area is months behind and the central square and main streets are a sea of mud, mired in politics and political in-fighting. ¶3. (SBU) Once a Socialist (MSzP) party stronghold, Pecs has been drifting since 2006 when then MSzP mayor, Laszlo Toller, was badly injured in an automobile accident. His MSzP successor, Peter Tasnadi, was no more than a place-holder, dying tragically of cancer in January 2009. In May 2009, the opposition Fidesz party candidate, Zsolt Pava, staged a stunning upset, decisively defeating incumbent Parliament speaker and Socialist party titan Katalin Szili in local elections with 65.8 percent of the vote. ¶4. (C) Pava explains his defeat of Szili simply: she was an "absentee representative," who lost touch with her constituents. Szili, he noted, never struck the right balance between her parliamentary duties in Budapest and spending time in her district. Szili, Pava continued, also failed to deliver the goods; e.g., the long-awaited Budapest to Pecs highway will only be finished in March 2010 after a nine-year wait. (Note: After her defeat in the municipal elections, with her political reputation in tatters, Szili stepped down as Speaker in September 2009. Pava emphatically made clear he is not/not running for Parliament in April's national elections. End Note.) ¶5. (C) Local MSzP leader Bertalan Toth separately agreed with Pava's analysis, saying that the Socialists lost the mayoral election because they were perceived as being out of touch, corrupt, and scandal-ridden. Toth said he is working to rebuild from the bottom up, but has little hope of an MSzP victory in the upcoming national elections in April. While good friends with Socialist party prime ministerial candidate Attila Mesterhazy, whom he considers very "simpatico," Toth believes MSzP does not have enough time to turn its image around. He predicts a "civil war" for control of the party between old guard and new guard once the election is over. ¶6. (C) In person, Pava belies his firebrand reputation. The soft-spoken, blue-jeaned, blue-blazered Fidesz mayor hardly seems like someone who would organize the September 2009 take-over of the French-managed local water utility (refs a and b) or stage sit-ins in December to block the building of a proposed NATO radar site on the nearby hill of Tubes. ¶7. (C) Asked to explain the takeover of the waterworks (which was highly popular with local citizens),Pava complained of alleged "irregularities" in the French consortium Suez's acquisition of other local water utilities around the country and spoke hazily of large corporate loan guarantees provided to unnamed special interests. Downplaying the night-time storming of the water company's headquarters, Pava insists that it was non-violent and that the security guards sent to occupy the building had been armed with a decree from the municipal assembly. The dispute, he says, is now working its way through the courts. Pressed about the likely outcome, Pava conceded that Pecs would likely have to pay compensation to reacquire Suez's 48 percent share of the water company, which Pava himself sold off for 350 million Hungarian forint (approximately $1.81 million) in 1995 during his previous term has mayor. ¶8. (C) The implications of any compensation deal on the budget of Pecs -- one of Hungary's most indebted municipalities -- are unclear. Pava admitted that his BUDAPEST 00000113 002 OF 002 current budget is "a mess" after losses in tax revenue and sharp cutbacks in central government allocations due to the recession. "Thank God for the banks," he said. (Note: On February 22, hundreds of municipal civil servants demonstrated outside of Pecs city hall protesting against cutbacks in benefits. End Note.) ¶9. (C) Questioned about his opposition to the Tubes radar site, Pava was quick to assert that he had nothing against NATO, adding that if he were a private citizen he would not have objected to the construction. "I understand two radars have been built, and that a third is needed." Pava claimed he was simply responding to the concerns of his constituents, who believed it was too close to human habitation. "Look, if it was outside city boundaries, I would have no objection," he stated. ¶10. (C) Pava allowed that Pecs was at least three months behind in terms of its infrastructure upgrades, but said the cultural program, "which was more important," had come together. He claimed citizens had been elated at last August's Placido Domingo concert and the New Year's Eve celebrations. MSzP leader Toth glumly admitted that Pecs is far from ready to step into its role as a European cultural capital, saying, "It's a disaster; we're just not ready." Toth said he did not want to criticize Pava over the issue, because there was plenty of blame to go around among both parties. "We didn't quite understand the EU contracting process; it makes everyone look bad." The important thing, according to Toth, was to pull together and work toward a solution. ¶11. (C) A new force appears to be entering the fray between Fidesz and the Socialists: Jobbik. Although Mayor Pava discounts the far-right party's presence in Pecs, saying that its showing in last June's EU elections was one of the weakest in the country, Jobbik activists regularly staff a both in the town square passing out leaflets. ¶12. (C) While Pava predicts that Jobbik will at most get nine percent of the vote, Socialist leader Toth fears that their tally could range higher. Toth notes that many traditionally conservative doctors and lawyers are Jobbik supporters. Toth also confided that his father-in-law is an active Jobbik supporter -- a fact that makes for very uncomfortable dinner conversations: "We talk about the weather, anything but politics." ¶13. (C) Toth confirmed the trend we had noted elsewhere that Jobbik is a growing presence a the University of Pecs. Asked why young people were attracted to Jobbik, Toth theorized that Jobbik offered a sense of belonging and identity that they could not find elsewhere. He said the Socialists had plans to establish their own youth group to counter Jobbik's influence, but admitted ruefully that "we haven't been able to get things off the ground." ¶14. (C) COMMENT. In proclaiming Pecs as a European cultural capital in January, Prime Minister Bajnai said the title offered responsibility, as well as an opportunity, as Pecs would act as a window on the whole country throughout the year. If that is true, the view is a mixed one. It is a sight of great intentions gone astray, of halting cooperation amidst political feuding between the two largest parties, as well as the disturbing intrusion of the far-right into even the most placid corners of Hungary. It is also a political morality tale, for just like Mayor Pava, Fidesz, which is widely expected to win this April's national elections, stands to inherit a raft of problems. Like Pava, Fidesz may try to distract the electorate, but in the end it will have to own up to the fact that ultimately its predecessor's difficulties will become its own, and that politics is not just about winning elections, but also about governing. KOUNALAKIS