Dr. Laszlo Botka

The Mayor of Szeged, Dr Laszlo Botka, toured the University's expanding science and technology campus with the Mayor of Cambridge, Cllr Robert Dryden.He saw at ... more

The Mayor of Szeged, Dr Laszlo Botka, toured the University's expanding science and technology campus with the Mayor of Cambridge, Cllr Robert Dryden.He saw at first-hand how the University is developing its facilities, more..

It's Dr László Botka, the mayor of Szeged in his yellow palace on Széchenyi tér, and he proves, when I enter his office for the interview, to be a rising star in more ways than one.I have to look way up to see his face, because he is six and a half feet tall.

At 31, Botka is surely the youngest and tallest mayor of a major city in Hungary.He has been rising in Hungarian politics since 1994, when, as a 21-year old law student at Attila József University in Szeged, he ran for parliament on the MSZP list and won.In 1998, he was elected vice-president of the Csongrád County General Assembly.In 2002, he was simultaneously elected mayor of Szeged and re-elected to parliament.I had been told before the interview that Botka's rapid political ascent was further accelerated two months ago by a speech he gave at an MSZP congress in support of Ferenc Gyurcsány over Péter Kiss to replace Péter Medgyessey as prime minister.Szeged has buzzed with rumors that Botka will be offered a post in the Gyurcsány administration, but the mayor emphatically denies that.

He took the risk of supporting Gyurcsány at the MSZP congress, he says, because he and others in the party "felt it was time for a dramatic change in leadership both of the party and of the nation".He calls this change "a turning point in the country's history," adding that Gyurcsány has a "vision of the future of Hungary" which corresponds with his own vision of Szeged's future.At the center of that vision is the cultivation of an opportunity economy.The proper role of government today, says Botka, "is not to rule, not to meddle in the daily affairs of the people, but to create partnerships, to encourage and support those citizens with the ability to succeed in the free market."He refers, however, to "wealth with justice" and says that government must continue to help buffer the poor and the disadvantaged from the more brutal effects of a vigorous capitalist system.

As for Szeged itself, Mayor Botka envisions the city as a bustling "gateway between southeast Europe and the European Union".He wants to make a Szeged a "transportation hub" by extending the M5 to the city limits, building a new airport, improving rail connections and developing the navigation potential of the Tisza River.

And festivals.During Mayor Botka's two years in office, there has been a steady increase in the number and quality of festivals in Szeged, which has helped generate a 25% increase in tourism.

Bridge Fair in Szeged The Cambridge Mayor is attending with Mrs Dryden; the Chair, Julia Boyd will represent the Society and receive an award from the Szeged Mayor & MP, Dr. Laszlo Botka.