At his hearing before Parliament’s Justice Committee on Monday, candidate for the head of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás said one of the most important tasks was the adoption of a ten-year Budapest strategy at the earliest opportunity.

The governing party politician told the Committee that there would be six Ministers of State and one Government Commissioner working at the Prime Minister’s Office, in addition to which one of the Ministers of State will also be given tasks as a Government Commissioner.

He explained the need for the establishment of a strategic state secretariat with the new cabinet system; the body, headed by Balázs Orbán, will be tasked with planning and will also play the role of Parliamentary State Secretary.

With relation to the tasks of the state secretariat for regional public administration, Mr. Gulyás indicated: the administrative unit headed by Bence Tuzson will not only be supervising Government representatives, Government offices and district offices, but also construction and public procurement.

He reported on the fact that two Ministers of State will be responsible for EU-related government policy: Szabolcs Takács will be tasked with strategy development, while Judit Varga will be working in the field of EU relations.

With relation to the state secretariat for Budapest and the agglomeration, which will be headed by Balázs Fürjes, he indicated: it is worth viewing them as a single unit, and spheres of competence will be developed in conjunction with Mayor of Budapest István Tarlós. The operations of the new organisational unit will in no way infringe upon the spheres of competence of local authorities, he declared.

The Fidesz politician also said the Government could adopt a comprehensive 10-year strategy “relatively soon”.

The Modern Cities Programme, which will soon be supplemented by a Modern Villages programme, will be supervised by Government Commissioner Alpár Gyopáros.

Mr. Gulyás said one of the important tasks of the Prime Minister’s Office is to perform coordination duties as a kind of “central government brain” in cooperation with the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister and the Government Office of the Prime Minister.

He said the changes realised within the field of regional public administration, including the clear separation of the duties of central and local government and the reintroduction of the district system, had been a great success, pointing out that over 1500 different kinds of administrative issues can be performed at the so-called government windows, with almost 25 million cases processed every year and 80 percent of procedures completed within 8 days.

The politician said further advances could be expected within the field of electronic public administration.

Mr. Gulyás rejected claims that the Government had any kind of plan for changes with relation to settlements with fewer than 2000 inhabitants. He confirmed that the Government will be consulting with the leaders of the Municipality of Budapest and settlements within the capital’s agglomeration. With relation to the number of ministries, he stressed the Cabinet’s freedom to reorganise the government as necessary, adding that he didn’t believe the number of Ministers of State and State Secretaries will be changing significantly.

The candidate’s appointment was approved by the Committee with 7 votes in favour from the governing party members of the Committee and 4 votes against from the opposition members.

(kormany.hu/MTI)