‘Ethical, empathetic action is at the heart of local administrations’ response to a challenging economic context’ said Gergely Csiga, Deputy Mayor of Budapest’s District XIII at the opening of a workshop on public ethics held in the premises of the municipality.
József Baracskai, Mayor of Zalaszentgrót added that ‘local government leaders’ most important task is to deliver services in the public interest’. In their remarks, both speakers referenced their municipalities’ receipt of the European Label for Governance Excellence (ELoGE) in November 2023.
The workshop forms part of the implementation of the Public Ethics Benchmark (PEB) for local authorities in Hungary. Welcoming participants, Conrad Zellmann, Senior Project Officer at the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance of the Council of Europe emphasised the role of ethics in building and restoring trust in public institutions, and highlighted previous PEB implementations in other Council of Europe member States.
Public Ethics is one of the twelve Principles of Good Democratic Governance adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2023, the subject of dedicated Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers as well as a series of thematic brochures and the European Code of Conduct for all those involved in local and regional governance by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
During the event, Council of Europe expert Katalin Pallai led a discussion on ethical principles and practices with representatives of local governments and the Hungarian National Association of Local Authorities (TÖOSZ). Participants explored the Hungarian adaptation of the benchmark as well as the digital benchmarking tool developed for the piloting exercise in Hungary, which will be implemented over the course of the next months.
The piloting of the Public Ethics Benchmark is part of the project ‘Local Government Public Finance Development and Municipal Capacity Building in Hungary’ project, co-funded by the European Commission’s DG REFORM via the Technical Support Instrument 2022 and by the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance.
