István Tarlós, mayor of Budapest received the Grand Prize of the European Academy Vienna in the award ceremony held in the capital of Austria. The prize was awarded to István Tarlós in recognition of his work carried out in the past 25 years for the good of Budapest, and especially of his work as the mayor of Budapest for 4 years as a result of which Budapest became a more liveable and competitive city.
“Instead of browsing different statistics and surveys, it is enough to keep our eyes open when we are in Budapest so that we immediately observe the development of the city”, emphasized Werner Fasslabend, former vice-chairman of the Parliament of Austria when holding the laudation about the activities of István Tarlós.
According to Erich Wendl, secretary-general of the Academy, it is essential that the residents actively participate in shaping the life of the city they live in. “Budapest is a great example for that”, said Wendl.
“This is not only my award, but the award of all the residents of Budapest”, stressed István Tarlós. In his speech Mayor Tarlós – who graduated from the Budapest University of Technology as an engineer – said that he became involved in politics after working in the field of technology. He stated that even though he was always interested in politics, he could not actively participate in it before the change of regime in 1989.
“This award is a very positive feedback and shows that Budapest has a more and more distinguished place on the list of liveable cities”, said Mayor Tarlós. Among the plans and tasks with top priority in Budapest, he mentioned the issue of the homeless, the long-term financing of public transport, the renovation of the vehicle fleet, that of Metro Line 3 and the bridges of Budapest, the completion of the modernisation of the sewer system and the further development of the camera systems for the improvement of public safety.
The European Academy Vienna was established in 1962; its members are representatives of public life in Austria as well as researchers and journalists of several European countries. The Grand Prize of the Academy was established in 2003, and it is awarded to personalities who have contributed to the advancement of the processes of European integration to a great extent. Among the previous award winners there are Alois Mock, former Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tina Nedergaard, former Danish Minister for Education, György Méhes, Hungarian writer and Géza Szőcs, Hungarian poet and former Secretary of State for Culture in Hungary.
