The city council approved in May a decree sponsored by the ruling Fidesz- KDNP on dismantling the city’s “ghettos and slums” with the aim of making the city safer and more liveable.

Under the decree, the city council offers tenants of buildings regarded unsuitable for human habitation 1.5- 2 million forints (EUR 4,900-6,500) to purchase better homes outside the city.

The local Roma community said the decree was discriminative and it saw “a real threat” in reactions it triggered. Attila Soós, a spokesman for the local Fidesz-Christian Democrats group, told a press conference that the city was committed to complete its programme to eliminate slums. He said the council had 12,000 citizen signatures to prove that it had backing from local residents.

The demonstration is a case of political hijacking, Soós insisted. Gábor Váradi, the president of the Miskolc Roma self-government, said they had asked for Prime Minister Viktor’s intervention to ensure that the city council would include the Roma in decision making.

The Roma branch of the leftist Hungarian Solidarity Movement called it unacceptable that Miskolc wanted to resolve the issue of poverty, unemployment and lack of equal opportunities by means of a “paid-for removal” of residents.

The opposition Democratic Coalition said Miskolc had an antisegregation plan drafted in 2008 which clearly identifies the problematic neighbourhoods and how these should be eliminated with alternative housing offered.

DK added that the city did not have the 400 million forints (EUR 1.3m) needed to pay for the move.

The radical nationalist Jobbik party have protested against the move with a signature drive, arguing that the council should not pay people who have “ruined their council homes”

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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MTI photo: Vajda János