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Gergely Karácsony | |
|---|---|
 Karácsony in 2025 | |
| Mayor of Budapest | |
| Assumed office 13 October 2019 | |
| Preceded by | István Tarlós |
| Mayor of Zugló District XIV, Budapest | |
| In office 12 October 2014 – 13 October 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Ferenc Papcsák |
| Succeeded by | Csaba Horváth |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| In office 14 May 2010 – 5 May 2014 | |
| In office 8 May 2018 – 28 May 2018 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1975-06-11)11 June 1975 (age 50) |
| Political party | Dialogue for Hungary (since 2013) LMP (2009–2013) |
| Other political affiliations | United for Hungary (since 2020) |
| Spouse | Virág Kiss |
| Children | 1[1] |
| Alma mater | Eötvös Loránd University (BA) |
| Profession | Political scientist, politician |
Gergely Szilveszter Karácsony ([ˈkɒraːt͡ʃoɲˌɡɛrɡɛjˌsilvɛstɛr]; born 11 June 1975) is a Hungarian politician, sociologist,political scientist, activist and currentMayor of Budapest. He previously served asmember of the National Assembly (MP) from 2010 to 2014 andMayor ofZugló from 2014 to 2019.
Karácsony worked for theMedián market and public opinion research company as a research manager. He became Director of Research in 2007. Between 2002 and 2008 he was a political advisor at the Prime Minister's Office.[2] In addition to that, he worked as a teaching assistant at theCorvinus University of Budapest from 2004, an assistant lecturer from 2007 and an assistant professor from 2008.
In May 2021, the Hungarian Office of Education (Oktatási Hivatal) opened an investigation into his appointments as assistant lecturer and assistant professor at Corvinus University. In September, the Office concluded that he did not meet some requirements related to language certificates and doctoral studies required by the university's policy.[3]
Karácsony became a member of the newly formedPolitics Can Be Different (LMP) party in 2009. During the2010 parliamentary election he served as campaign manager of the party. He became a Member of Parliament from theBudapest regional list (3rd place). In May 2010 he was elected deputy leader of the LMPparliamentary fraction.[4] As a result he left theMedián firm.
Karácsony was the party's candidate at the Budapest District IIby-election in November 2011. He came third with 6.45 percent afterZsolt Láng (Fidesz) andKatalin Lévai (MSZP).[5] Both MSZP and LMP agreed that the candidate who received fewer votes would withdraw in favour of the stronger one; however, Karácsony also participated in the run-off.[6]
In January 2013, the LMP's congress rejected electoral cooperation with other opposition forces, includingTogether 2014.[7] As a result, members of LMP's "Dialogue for Hungary" platform, including Karácsony, announced their decision to leave the opposition party and form a new organisation.Benedek Jávor, leader of the "Dialogue for Hungary" platform, said the eight MPs leaving LMP would keep their parliamentary mandates. The departing MPs establishedDialogue for Hungary (Hungarian: Párbeszéd Magyarországért, or PM) as a full-fledged party.[8]
In June 2014, Karácsony was elected co-chair of Dialogue for Hungary (PM) alongsideTímea Szabó, when his predecessor Jávor became aMember of the European Parliament (MEP) in the2014 European Parliament election.[9] Karácsony won the mayoral election in Zugló during the2014 local elections as a joint candidate of theHungarian Socialist Party,Democratic Coalition, and theTogether 2014–Dialogue for Hungary alliance. According to the new rules, he also became a member of theGeneral Assembly of Budapest.
In April 2017, Karácsony was re-elected co-leader of the Dialogue for Hungary and was also appointed as his party's candidate for the position of prime minister in the2018 parliamentary election.[10] The Hungarian Socialist Party also elected Karácsony as their candidate for the position of prime minister in December 2017. The two parties also decided to jointly contest the 2018 national election.[11] Consequently, Together have terminated their cooperation agreement with the Dialogue for Hungary.[12] Under the leadership of Karácsony, the MSZP–PM joint list received 11.91% and came only third after Fidesz andJobbik.[13]
In June 2019, in theopposition's first primary election, he was elected[14] as the opposition (MSZP-P-DK-Momentum-LMP-MLP)'s candidate.[15][16][17][18] WhileJobbik did not endorse Karácsony outright, the party opted not to run a candidate against him.[19] This left Karácsony as the sole opposition candidate for the position ofLord Mayor of Budapest in the2019 local elections, against incumbent Lord MayorIstván Tarlós, who was supported by the ruling coalition,Fidesz–KDNP. He then went on to win the election on 13 October 2019 with 50.86% of the votes being cast in his favor, with Tarlós receiving 44.10%.[20]
On Karácsony's initiative,[21] the mayors of the capitals of all fourVisegrád Group countries signed thePact of Free Cities in Budapest in December 2019. The pact promotes "common values of freedom, human dignity, democracy, equality, rule of law, social justice, tolerance and cultural diversity".[22]
He gained international popularity in 2021 when he renamed four streets in Budapest to "Free Hong Kong Street", "Uyghur Martyrs Street", "Dalai Lama Street" and "BishopXie Shiguang Street" in protest of the Hungarian government's decision to open a branch of China'sFudan University in Budapest. In 2019, the university had formally changed its educational status and philosophy, notably removing the phrase "academic independence andfreedom of thought" and including "commitment to follow the leadership of theCommunist Party".[23][24] Fudan's Budapest campus was thus considered by Karácsony and thousands of Hungarian citizens who had protested against the opening of the university as a sign of a pernicious expansion of Chinese influence in Hungary.[25][26][27][28][29]
Karácsony called Budapest a "republic" and an “island of freedom" during his term. He argued that the Fidesz government had made the equivalent of a declaration of war on the city due to their defeat in the 2019 election. The social values against which the government oriented its policies were present in Budapest, he added.[30] Karácsony emphasized that, in addition to theCOVID-19 pandemic and theglobal energy crisis, the Fidesz government took a lot of powers and financial resources away from Budapest in the 2019–2024 term purely for political reasons, which made the city budget unstable. Thus, the implementation of many municipal projects was delayed or became impossible. During his re-launch campaign, Karácsony argued that Budapest's future would be decided by the city's ability to provide affordable housing in the short and long term. In this regard, he wanted to rely on directly callable EU funds, bypassing the government's distributive role. Karácsony argued that he had demonstrated his ability to cooperate with the Hungarian government after a common tariff system was established with the participation ofHungarian State Railways (MÁV),Volánbusz andBudapesti Közlekedési Zrt. Under Karácsony, theBuBi bicycle-sharing network was also re-organized and expanded. Karácsony established a housing agency that provides municipal housing for the homeless. The reconstruction ofMetro Line M3 was completed under his term, but the lack of accessibility and air-conditioning remained an unfulfilled campaign promise. TheSzéchenyi Chain Bridge andBlaha Lujza tér were also renovated.[31]
On 9th of June, 2024, Karácsony ran for and won a second term as mayor of Budapest in the2024 Budapest mayoral election, narrowly beating LMP candidateDávid Vitézy, who was backed by Fidesz candidateAlexandra Szentkirályi, after she left the race two days before the election due to poor polling performance.[32]
In late May 2025, Karácsony held apress conference in which he claimed that Budapest was on the brink ofbankruptcy, and that the Hungarian Government was demanding the capital municipality pay 50 billionforint to pay the "Solidarity Tax", which was a tax paid by wealthier municipalities to distribute money to less wealthy municipalities. This tax has significantly risen since Karácsony became mayor, with him calling this rise in tax a political move by the government.[33][34]He also asked for legal protection from the courts to avoid the government from taking this unpaid tax money from the municipalities accounts.[35]The government then deducted 10.2 billion forint from the municipality, which Karácsony deemed illegal, and asked the city-owned public transport company, theBudapesti Közlekedési Központ (BKK), to make a plan to conserve money in case more money was deducted. He also said that all public transport operated by the BKK would completely halt for 10 minutes on the 6th of June between 11:50 AM and 12:00 PM, as a protest against the government's actions against the municipality.[36]Around this time, the CEO of BKK, Walter Katalin, resigned from his office, due to pressure around corruption claims.[37]Then, on 17th June 2025, the courts granted financial protection to the Budapest municipality, and ordered that the Hungarian State Treasury return the 10.2 billion forint taken from the city.[38]
When theHungarian Pride parade ban was put into law on 18th March 2025, Karácsony was completely against the ban, and claimed thatBudapest Pride would still happen that year, and that it "could be bigger than ever."[39] He then travelled to the 2025Vienna Pride parade, where he made a speech in which he claimed that "if Pride can be banned in an EU member state, then no EU citizen is safe".[40] Karácsony then declared that Budapest Pride would be classified as a municipal event, meaning that the police would not have the authority to ban it, which the police did anyway.[41] The parade took place despite the ban, with around 100,000 people attending.[42][43] Karácsony attended the parade, with him making a speech near the end of the event. He also got into some controversy when some people accused him of making theNazi salute whilst making the speech, which was echoed byfar-rightAnti-Islam Dutch politicianGeert Wilders, with him saying that Karácsony made an "antisemiticNazi gesture". However, this was disproven, as a recording of Karácsony's speech from a different angle showed that he was not doing a Nazi salute, but rather pointing to theCarmelite Monastery of Buda, the official seat of thePrime Minister of Hungary, whilst saying "You (Viktor Orbán) have no power over us." Karácsony responded to Wilders' allegations by saying onX, formerly Twitter, "I'm pointing toward the office of your ideological ally while saying: 'You have no power over us.' 200,000 free Hungarians understood perfectly."[44]
On 1st August 2025, Karácsony was questioned byHungarian police at the National Investigation Bureau on his involvement in the Budapest Pride parade earlier that year.[45] Karácsony then made a speech after the questioning, saying that he did not answer any of the police’s questions, instead choosing to read out a statement of his legal position, which was that given the event was a municipal event, it did not apply to the law banning events of that nature. He said he found it surreal that someone can be tried for a municipal or local event, whilst “thieves of public funds, embezzlers of 100 billions” are not even being dealt with.[46]
In May 2021, six opposition parties formed a coalition against Fidesz andViktor Orbán in the 2022 national elections. Karácsony ran as the prime ministerial candidate of three parties (PM, MSZP and LMP) in the2021 primary election. During his candidacy, he announced the establishment of a cross-partypolitical movement called 99 Movement (Hungarian:99 Mozgalom) on 15 May 2021.[47][48] Karácsony mentioned the following as its main policy goals:
Our purpose and faith are no more, no less: the dethronement of 1 percent of the privileged few for the benefit and benefit of the 99 percent majority. To replace the people of power with the power of the people. For Hungary to breathe, to calm down and to be a common home for all of us. ... The next chapter of Hungary will be the history of all Hungarians. Instead of a country decorated around today's privileged people, we are creating a homeland that offers everyone a chance, a future and a happy life. It is time to build a new policy that represents the interests of 99% of the country instead of 1% of the richest.[49]
He also stressed that he wanted a country where no one considers the other a traitor, where there is no need to choose between homeland and progress, nation and Europe, Budapest and the countryside.[50]
Karácsony came in second in the first round of the opposition primary (27.3%) and, beside a few places in the countryside, he could only win in the constituencies of Budapest, where he is serving as mayor (altogether 15 constituencies).[51] Following a week-long negotiation and political tactics, beside the result of opinion polls, Karácsony dropped out and endorsedPéter Márki-Zay, who came in third place and eventually won the second round againstKlára Dobrev and became the nominee of the opposition for the position of prime minister in the 2022 parliamentary election.[52] Political analysts described his withdrawal as a political failure, which, for the first time, has stalled his upward career since 2010. Before the opposition primary, Karácsony was considered the towering favorite of the primary, who in recent years has built an image of the face of the opposition. The ruling party Fidesz also targeted him with a negative campaign (the slogan "StopGyurcsány, stop Karácsony!") during the primary. According to experts, Karácsony launched his campaign late, did not campaign in the summer (unlike his opponents), had no strong message and was prematurely focused on the 2022 election and defeating Viktor Orbán.[53]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Mayor of Zugló 2014–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Mayor of Budapest 2019–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Co-President ofDialogue for Hungary 2014–2022 Served alongside:Tímea Szabó | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Succeeded by | |
| International | |
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| National | |
