Socialists back local govt autonomy

The governments have made various attempts since the democratic transition 28 years ago to shrink the autonomy of local governments, the leader of the opposition Socialists told a conference on the future of local governments on Tuesday. Since coming to power eight years ago, the incumbent government has been centralising their powers and resources, Gyula Molnar said at the event co-hosted by the Tancsics and the Friedrich Ebert foundations in Budapest. The task now is to establish a local government system that applies the principle laid down during the democratic transition, namely that local councils should have the power to take decisions on matters affecting their local communities at their own level, he said.