Local Semi-authorities

In the semi-darkness of Belgrade’s Pavilion Veljkovic which is home to the Center for Cultural Decontamination, a man who seemed to be thirty something stood beside the projection of a picture of a middle-aged woman taken very early this century. He spoke fluent English with a central European accent. "Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Gabor Dempski. I am 45 years old. I am the mayor of Budapest and have been responsible for that city of two million people for seven years. I am in Belgrade for the second time in my life. The first time I was here as a student for a day with some friends. We were going to Dubrovnik. That was 20 years ago.

But, my family is partly from this part of Europe, from Belgrade and some villages near it. You are watching a picture of my great grandmother who lived here at the turn of the century. My great grandfather was a carpenter and he built roofs in Belgrade."

That evening, Dempski’s host was former Belgrade Mayor (1974-82) Zivorad Kovacevic. The next day, March 1, he, the new Mayor Zoran Djindjic and Dempski signed a protocol on cooperation between the two cities. The topic of the talk was institutions of local self-rule and the state.

KOVACEVIC: Your new colleague, Djindjic, found his treasury empty and problems piled up. How do you finance capital investments, do you have access to the capital market?

DEMPSKI: "Autonomy brings responsibility. I know that public transport is a priority here so I’ll explain how we solved that problem. First we took out a loan from the European Bank For Development and Restructuring, then another from the World Bank and now we’re asking the European Investment Bank for a loan. We built a part of the metro with the first loan and we’ll buy 1,000 buses with the third. The World Bank loan will be used to restore 47 kilometers of streetcar rails. I know that you need a solution quickly, before the parliamentary and presidential elections. I spoke about this with the leaders of the Democratic Party today and in my opinion it takes at least two or three years to improve city transport. Organization in charge of that takes six months to study the situation, then they write a study. There’s no quick solution."

VREME: (Dempski was interviewed right after the tribunal) Since you have been mayor over seven billion dollars have been invested in Budapest. How did you manage that?

DEMPSKI: "Budapest and Hungary are very favorable for large investments. There’s a good profit rate, a good climate for investment. We’re improving infrastructure, building railways, roads, bridges, phone lines. Many investors come to Budapest not only because of the good profit rates but also because it’s a good place to live."

VREME: Djindjic spoke of political force in dealing with the regime. Can a dramatic confrontation between the city and republican authorities bring anything good?

DEMPSKI: "There’s no basic law on local self-rule here. These are local semi-authorities. That is why the political aspect is much more important here. Without a law which is in accord with the European Council charter on local rule, there is no real local self-rule and the central authorities can use all means against you. We cooperated with a government which was not very friendly but we managed to get good things for the city because we were protected by the law."

VREME: Were there any problems when you took over from the Communists?

DEMPSKI: "No, everything was peaceful. It was a silken revolution."

KOVACEVIC: The main slogan of the student protest is Belgrade is the World. Has this protest brought Belgrade and Budapest closer in any way?

DEMPSKI: "When I visited the student information service today, I was impressed. It reminded me of ‘89 and ‘90 when we were working out of apartments. My party was formed in an apartment. Over the past seven years, I have been to Ljubljana, twice to Sarajevo, Dubrovnik but not to Belgrade. There is a historic reason for that - the war. The past three months have changed everything. You are the key to the region. If there is democracy here there will be peace in this part of Europe. I understand your demands, they are simple, human demands. We support them because they are in our interest as well."