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The voice of Kata Tüttő, a former deputy mayor of Budapest and now President of the European Committee of the Regions, carries a weight forged in the trenches of local governance. Her critique of the Hungarian government under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is not merely political rhetoric; it is a firsthand account of a city’s struggle. She articulates that Budapest has “suffered a lot” under the current national leadership, a statement that encapsulates more than just policy disagreements. It speaks to a sustained tension where the dynamism and specific needs of a European capital are often stifled by centralized decision-making. For Tüttő, the experience of Budapest is a microcosm of a democratic erosion, where local mandates and the direct will of city-dwellers are overridden by a state apparatus that seeks to consolidate power and homogenize control from the top down.
This personal experience on the ground in Hungary now directly informs her broader European perspective. In her elevated role, Tüttő is sounding a continent-wide alarm against what she identifies as a troubling “wave of centralisation” sweeping across Europe. This is not a vague, abstract trend. She observes it in the gradual stripping away of competencies from regional assemblies, in the diversion of funds away from local priorities set by those who understand them best, and in legislative frameworks that treat diverse territories as uniform entities. This wave, she warns, threatens the very fabric of the European project, which is built on the principle of subsidiarity—the idea that decisions should be taken as closely as possible to the citizen. When regions and cities lose their voice, a crucial layer of democratic representation and innovative problem-solving is lost.
The consequences of this centralization are profoundly human. When a city like Budapest cannot freely manage its public transport, its cultural institutions, or its urban development according to its unique character and challenges, the daily lives of its residents are directly impacted. It leads to a sense of disenfranchisement, a feeling that no matter who you vote for at the local level, real power lies elsewhere. This breeds political cynicism and disengagement. Furthermore, centralization often fails to account for local realities—a policy crafted for rural areas may cripple a metropolitan center, and vice versa. Tüttő’s warning is thus about effective governance: the stifling of local initiative leads to less responsive, less efficient, and less creative solutions to the complex problems facing modern societies, from housing and climate adaptation to social integration.
Tüttő’s position allows her to frame this not as a series of isolated national issues, but as a collective challenge for the European Union. The EU itself is a union of diverse regions, and its strength derives from this very diversity. A Europe where power is relentlessly pulled back into national capitals, weakening its regions, is a Europe that becomes more fragmented, less resilient, and paradoxically, less united. It empowers nationalist narratives over cooperative ones. Her work at the Committee of the Regions is fundamentally about building a counter-narrative—one of a “Europe of the regions,” where cities and local areas are recognized as essential partners, not administrative subordinates. This vision sees mayors and regional presidents as key actors in implementing the green transition, fostering social cohesion, and driving innovation.
The path forward, as implied by Tüttő’s advocacy, requires vigilant and structured defense of local autonomy. It means strengthening EU mechanisms that protect subsidiarity and empower local governments with the fiscal and legal tools they need to thrive. It involves creating direct funding channels from the EU to cities for key initiatives, bypassing potentially obstructive national governments when necessary. It also calls for a cultural shift, where the work of local leaders is valued as the frontline of European democracy. The battle against centralization is a battle for practicality and human-scale governance; it is the understanding that a one-size-fits-all approach dictated from a distant capital cannot effectively address the specific needs of a neighborhood in Budapest, a fishing community in Greece, or an industrial basin in Germany.
Ultimately, Kata Tüttő’s journey from the deputy mayor’s office in Budapest to a pan-European podium embodies the critical connection between local experience and continental policy. Her warning is a poignant reminder that the health of European democracy is measured not just in the halls of Brussels or national parliaments, but in the town squares, city councils, and regional assemblies where citizens’ lives are most directly shaped. The “wave of centralisation” she identifies is a force that diminishes this vibrant, essential layer of democracy. Pushing back against it is not about parochialism, but about preserving the pluralistic, adaptable, and genuinely representative foundations upon which a strong and united Europe must be built. The future of the continent may well depend on whether its regions and cities can retain the power to shape their own destinies.
