By Balázs Brucker, ELTE CERS Institute for Regional Studies, Pécs, Hungary
Introduction
Over the past decade, cities around the world have become increasingly important players in international affairs.[1] Through the practice of city diplomacy, urban governments engage with global networks, international organizations, and foreign partners – often pursuing agendas that diverge from those of their national governments. This phenomenon reflects a broader redefinition of governance, where cities act not only as administrative units but also as political actors with global agency.
Several international examples illustrate how cities bypass or counterbalance national authorities when values or priorities differ. After the United States withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017, major American cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago reaffirmed their environmental commitments through the “We Are Still In” coalition.[2] Similarly, Warsaw has built direct relations with the European Union and democratic networks to promote liberal governance, despite ongoing tensions with Poland’s central government.[3]
Within this broader global context, Budapest’s evolving international engagement exemplifies how local diplomacy can emerge as both a practical and symbolic tool of autonomy. Under Mayor Gergely Karácsony, the Hungarian capital has increasingly acted as an independent voice of democratic and European values – often positioning itself in deliberate contrast to the Fidesz-led national government.
The State of Democracy in Hungary: Political Context and EU Relations
Hungary’s democratic landscape provides the political backdrop to Budapest’s international assertiveness. Since 2010, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party have undertaken a far-reaching transformation of Hungary’s political institutions. The government has rewritten the constitution, restructured the electoral system, and centralized control over key public institutions, including the judiciary, the media, and the education sector. These reforms have consolidated executive power and reshaped the system of checks and balances, creating what critics describe as an “illiberal democracy”. Supporters, however, argue that these changes have restored stability after years of political fragmentation and have reinforced national sovereignty against perceived external pressures.[4]
Tensions with the European Union have become a defining feature of this transformation. The EU’s rule of law conditionality mechanism, which ties access to EU funds to adherence to democratic norms, has placed Hungary under sustained scrutiny. In 2022, the European Commission froze billions of euros in cohesion and recovery funds over concerns related to judicial independence, corruption, and public procurement. Although the Hungarian government subsequently adopted a series of “anti-corruption” reforms to unlock the funds, Brussels has judged these efforts largely insufficient. This standoff has evolved into a broader political conflict over the nature of European integration itself: while the EU frames conditionality as a defence of democratic values and institutional integrity, the Orbán government portrays it as ideological coercion and an infringement on national sovereignty. Despite ongoing negotiations, Hungary remains one of the few EU member states facing partial financial suspension due to rule-of-law deficiencies.[5]
The Russia–Ukraine war further complicated Hungary’s position. While Hungary has accepted hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees, it has simultaneously maintained close energy and political ties with Moscow – creating friction within the EU and NATO. Relations with Ukraine have also been strained. Budapest has repeatedly clashed with Kyiv over the language rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia, and the Hungarian government has used this issue to justify its cautious stance toward military aid and sanctions policy. Although Hungary officially supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity, its reluctance to provide weapons or allow arms shipments through its territory has fuelled perceptions that Budapest is an unreliable partner within the Western alliance. This ambivalent position reflects a broader balancing act between pragmatic dependence on Russian energy, domestic political messaging, and the need to preserve its standing in the EU and NATO frameworks.[6]
Migration policy and LGBTQ+ rights have also drawn international attention. The government’s restrictive stance during the 2015 migration crisis, and later its laws limiting LGBTQ+ content, have been widely criticized as violations of EU democratic and human rights standards. In recent years, several municipalities – including Budapest – have faced government-imposed restrictions or outright bans on Pride events, justified on security or “public morality” grounds. These measures, alongside the 2021 “child protection” law, have intensified concerns over discrimination and the shrinking space for civil rights advocacy in Hungary.[7] Both the European Commission and the European Court of Justice have launched proceedings against the Hungarian government, underscoring the extent to which LGBTQ+ rights have become a central fault line between Hungary and the European Union.[8]
In this environment, Budapest’s pro-European orientation and independent foreign outreach represent not just local politics – but a counter-narrative to Hungary’s national trajectory.
Budapest vs. the Government: Urban Autonomy in a Centralized State
When Gergely Karácsony became Mayor of Budapest in 2019, relations between the capital and the Fidesz-led national government entered a new and strained phase. The government has since curtailed the city’s fiscal autonomy through special taxes, reallocated revenues, and reduced subsidies – pushing Budapest to the edge of solvency. These measures serve not only economic purposes but also political ones: to constrain a city governed by the opposition and reassert central control.[9]
The tension is ideological as well as institutional. Budapest presents itself as a green, progressive, and pro-European metropolis committed to sustainability, pluralism, and democratic governance. By contrast, the national government’s agenda emphasizes sovereignty, centralization, and cultural conservatism.[10] The result is a profound divergence in values – one that now extends into the sphere of international relations.
Budapest’s Diplomatic Pathways: Acting Beyond the State
Against this domestic backdrop, Budapest has become an increasingly assertive actor in international diplomacy. Since 2019, the city has moved beyond the largely symbolic and protocol-based international engagements that characterized the period under the previous, Fidesz-aligned municipal leadership. Instead, it has adopted an initiative-driven international strategy, cultivating partnerships that reinforce both its policy goals and political autonomy.[11]
Budapest is a founding member of the Pact of Free Cities, established in December 2019 by the mayors of Budapest, Prague, Warsaw, and Bratislava – all opposition-led at the time. The alliance was conceived as both a symbolic and practical response to democratic backsliding in Central Europe. Its members pledged to defend shared values such as transparency, sustainability, and pluralism, and to advocate for direct access to EU funding for cities, bypassing potentially obstructive national intermediaries.[12]
This access to direct European financing carries both strategic and democratic significance. For Budapest, it enables development projects – from green infrastructure to smart city initiatives – to proceed without reliance on the national government’s mediation, which has often been politically restrictive. At the same time, it reinforces local democratic accountability, ensuring that resources serve urban communities directly rather than national political agendas.
Budapest’s engagement within the Alliance has become an effective mechanism for bypassing the national government. Through direct communication with EU institutions, the city participates in discussions on the rule of law, climate policy, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine –areas where Hungary’s central government has often been a reluctant or obstructionist actor.
The Russian–Ukrainian war has further highlighted Budapest’s capacity for independent action. While the national government adopted an ambivalent, sometimes pro-Russian tone, the city leadership took a clear humanitarian stance. Budapest provided accommodation and targeted support for Ukrainian refugees, including ethnic Hungarians from Transcarpathia, thereby complementing and, at times, compensating for the limitations of national relief mechanisms.
A symbolic moment came on 11 January 2023, when Mayor Gergely Karácsony and his counterparts Rafał Trzaskowski (Warsaw), Matúš Vallo (Bratislava), and Zdeněk Hřib (Prague) – the founding mayors of the Alliance of Free Cities – visited Kyiv to meet with Mayor Vitali Klitschko.[13] Karácsony’s public message drew a sharp contrast with Budapest’s national government:
“Budapest stands with Ukraine. The Hungarian government is not the same as Hungary. While the government speaks of peace, it omits what is self-evident — that peace is only possible if Ukraine’s war efforts succeed, if its territorial sovereignty is restored, and if Russian troops leave Ukrainian soil.”[14]
The delegation also visited Berehove and Bucha, reinforcing Budapest’s moral and political solidarity with Ukraine.
Through such actions, Budapest has articulated a foreign policy identity distinct from the state’s – one grounded in democratic norms, humanitarianism, and European cooperation.
Budapest’s international activism extends beyond foreign relations to encompass social and cultural diplomacy at home. The 2025 Budapest Pride exemplified how municipal events can serve as international political statements. The festival attracted participation from foreign embassies, cultural institutes, NGOs, and members of the European Parliament, including representatives from the Greens, liberals, and left-wing parties.[15]
The event thus transcended its local cultural dimension to become a diplomatic platform – a demonstration that Budapest, even under restrictive national conditions, can convey global messages about equality, human rights, and freedom of assembly. It showcased how city governments can shape international discourse and project alternative narratives of national identity from within.
Conclusion
Budapest’s recent trajectory illustrates the emergence of urban diplomacy as a form of democratic resistance. Confronted with a central government that limits its resources and autonomy, the city has leveraged transnational networks to maintain its agency, pursuing independent strategies in climate policy, humanitarian assistance, and human rights advocacy.
In doing so, Budapest challenges the conventional hierarchy of state and city, proving that subnational actors can become active participants in shaping global political norms. Its case exemplifies how cities, even within illiberal or centralized contexts, can act as islands of democracy, keeping the channels of international cooperation open when national governments turn inward.
[1] Barber, B. (2014): If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities. Yale University Press, London
[2] C40 (2018): One Year After Trump Decision to Withdraw from Paris Agreement, U.S. Cities Carry Climate Action Forward, June 1, 2018: https://www.c40.org/news/one-year-after-trump-decision-to-withdraw-from-paris-agreement-u-s-cities-carry-climate-action-forward/
[3] Szpak, A., Gawlowski, R., Modrzynska, J., Modrzynski, P. (2023): Pact of Free Cities – A New Form of European Cities’ Cooperation, Polish Political Science Yearbook, vol. 52., 1–17.
[4] Gomez, G. – Leunig, S. (2022): Fidesz, liberal democracy and the fundamental law in Hungary, ZPol, no. 1, 655–682.
[5] Czina, V. (2024): The effectiveness of the EU’s rule of law conditionality mechanism: Theoretical observations based on the case of Hungary, Intersections. EEJSP 10(1): 171–188.
[6] Euronews (2025): ‘Ukraine does not defend Hungary’, Orban says in Zelenskyy rebuff, November 5 2025: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/11/05/ukraine-does-not-defend-hungary-orban-says-in-zelenskyy-rebuff
[7] Friedrich Nauman Foundation: Budapest Pride Ban: Hungary’s Escalating Crackdown on Civil Rights, May 22, 2025: https://www.freiheit.org/europe/budapest-pride-ban-hungarys-escalating-crackdown-civil-rights
[8] European Commission (2022): Commission refers HUNGARY to the Court of Justice of the EU over violation of LGBTIQ rights, June 15, 2022: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_2689
[9] Telex (2023): Budapest may face bankruptcy, mayor announces, April 20, 2023: https://telex.hu/english/2023/04/20/budapest-may-face-bankruptcy-mayor-announces
[10] Brucker, B. (2024). A Visegrádi Együttműködés fővárosainak érdekérvényesítése az EU-ban, avagy milyen érdekérvényesítési csatornák állnak a szubnacionális szereplők rendelkezésére az uniós térben. Comitatus: Önkormányzati Szemle, 34(251), 21–43.
[11] Brucker, B. (2023). Budapest szerepe a nemzetközi politikában sokkal fajsúlyosabb, mint gondolnánk. Portfolio, December 6, 2023: https://www.portfolio.hu/krtk/20231206/budapest-szerepe-a-nemzetkozi-politikaban-sokkal-fajsulyosabb-mint-gondolnank-656097
[12] Szpak, A., Gawlowski, R., Modrzynska, J., Modrzynski, P. (2023): Pact of Free Cities – A New Form of European Cities’ Cooperation, Polish Political Science Yearbook, vol. 52., 1–17.; Matthes, C-Y. (2023): The Pact of Free Cities – Addressing Rule of Law Problems from a Local Perspective. Polish Political Science Yearbook, vol. 52, Special Issue (2023), 27–40
[13] Brucker, B. (2023). Budapest szerepe a nemzetközi politikában sokkal fajsúlyosabb, mint gondolnánk. Portfolio, December 6, 2023: https://www.portfolio.hu/krtk/20231206/budapest-szerepe-a-nemzetkozi-politikaban-sokkal-fajsulyosabb-mint-gondolnank-656097
[14] Index (2023): Karácsony Gergely: Budapest Ukrajna mellett áll és a magyar kormány nem azonos Magyarországgal, January 11, 2023: Index – Külföld – Karácsony Gergely: Budapest Ukrajna mellett áll és a magyar kormány nem azonos Magyarországgal
[15] Mangin, T. (2025): EXCLUSIVE: EU Commission must go to Budapest Pride, say 60 MEPs: https://www.euractiv.com/news/exclusive-eu-commission-must-go-to-budapest-pride-say-60-meps/
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Balázs Brucker is a research associate at the ELTE CERS Institute of Regional Studies (Hungary). He obtained his PhD in Political Science at the University of Pécs, with a dissertation focusing on interest representation in the European Parliament. His research interests include the intergroups of the European Parliament, the representation of subnational actors’ interests within the institutions of the European Union, and city diplomacy.
Project no. 146411 has been implemented with the support provided by the Ministry of Culture and Innovation of Hungary from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund, financed under the K-23 funding scheme.