Discussion Papers 2002.
Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary 86-103. p.
TERRITORIAL QUESTIONS OF TRANSFORMATION
OF THE HUNGARIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION,
1990-2000
Zoltcin Hajda
Introduction
Hungarian public administration found itself in basically new conditions from the
early 1990s. These changes were summed up as the "systemic change", but there
are still debates about the nature, process, frameworks, content, etc. of this sys-
temic change. In fact, groups and political parties with growing influence still ar-
gue whether a "genuine" political, economic and social systemic change has taken
place in Hungary.
Approaching the problems of the systemic change from the aspect of public
administration, we have to ask the question whether the state socialist public ad-
ministration has transformed according to the requirements of the modern multi-
party democracy and market economy?
The constitutional regulation of public administration has fundamentally
changed, and so have its political and social environment, its tasks, objectives and
functions, and its organisation. The tasks of public administration decreased within
the frameworks of the new system, compared to the previous one. (A significant
part of the tasks carried out in the former council system were taken out of the
competence of public administration.) One of the most important changes was the
creation of the local governmental public administration, which replaced the Soviet
type council system of the party state.
The "self-government" in itself has become a political value, it content has been
defined from the side of local democracy, as opposed to the former council admini-
stration that had been considered as dictatorial. The expression thus means much
more in content than the English phrase "self-government", it carries an attitude
motivated emotionally and politically.
The problems of the territorial reform of the Hungarian public administration
has been present in Hungarian political and scientific life in the 1990s, versatile
approaches, organising principles and efforts of the power have appeared in both

Hajdú, Zoltán: Territorial Questions of Transformation of the Hungarian Public Administration, 1990–2000.
In: Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
fields, debates of different, sometimes extremely high intensity go on. In the field
of the territorial reform of public administration, neither political nor scientific or
social consensus has been achieved. The disputes about the territorial reform
largely contributed to the fact that the new Constitution could not be accepted.
The association treaty signed with the European Union and the starting and
runing negotiation process have brought new elements into the debates about the
reform of the Hungarian public administration, namely: What is the "territorial
structure of public administration in Europe" like, what does the European Union
expect of the Hungarian public administration, what organisational and territorial
structure is best suited to these slightly different expectations?
The historical characteristics of the Hungarian county
administration
The county system is the most researched, most processed, most praised and also
the most criticised element of the history of the Hungarian public administration.
The evaluation of the county system varied between extremities across the different
periods, political efforts and by the different scientific schools. The county system
is still one of the sharpest conflicts points of the political and administrative ambi-
tions.
During history the county system has gone through a lot of changes, both con-
cerning its societal and political environment and its role in public administration,
its control function, territorial division, inner management structure, etc., at the
same time, it has always preserved a kind of historical continuity.
The question for us is why the county system has remained the dominant ele-
ment — although with a different weight — in the Hungarian regional administration
since the Christian state foundation until now and what has given the great flexi-
bility which helped the county system survive historical periods, social, political
and economic systemic changes (when there were so many of these in Hungary).
The changes of the historical function and frames of the county system were
determined by the internal development processes of the Hungarian state and soci-
ety, but external efforts sometimes also strongly influenced the development of the
situation, functions and territorial system of mezo-level of public administration. In
reality, the permanent character of the county system is that it has always meant a
different thing "to be a county" in each era. The county system as such has shown a
great historical, economic, social, political, ideological, interest assertion, adminis-
trative, etc. flexibility. Its adaptability has largely contributed to its survival in his-
tory.
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Hajdú, Zoltán: Territorial Questions of Transformation of the Hungarian Public Administration, 1990–2000.
In: Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
The history of the county system goes back to the foundation of the Christian
Hungarian state, the county system was founded parallel to the Christian kingdom.
Later this origin gave the counties a special historical value, in fact, sometimes
some mystic character.
In the historical development of Hungary, the noblemen's counties sometimes
became enemies for the central power (which was considered as a foreign power),
fulfilling, besides by the interest of the nobility, a national mission which was
greatly appreciated by the later periods from the aspect of the preservation of the
national sovereignty.
The power positions of the counties were quite significant in some times. The
prestige of the county system was created partly by the historical mission and
partly the current power position. This is why the meso-level administrative unit
was called "county" even in those times when its function had almost nothing to do
with the historical autonomy and power, maybe only with the force, but this
"force" was provided by the state then and not the county by its own media.
The modern bourgeois public administration eliminated the county content and
partly the framework of the feudal development, implementing in many respects
the nationalisation of the public administration. The local governance of the coun-
ties became more and more empty in content, but the county remained a significant
factor as a territorial frame and a kind of forum for the local public life.
In the state socialist administration, the county played an almost inverse role.
First it was the executor of the will of the central power, then the possibilities of
the county councils gradually widened, and by the end of this era the negotiating
position and the territorial influence of the counties were strengthened in many re-
spects.
The new local governmental county of the 1990s is alien from the historical tra-
ditions of the Hungarian public administration. The county governments were
never as insignificant and depreciated in their function as after 1990.
Even after this brief overview, it is extremely hard to answer the basic question:
what gave vitality and flexibility to the county system. In the county system of
each and every period of time (in fact, in all the reform plans aiming at its reform),
there was always a kind of rational or irrational relationship to the history. The na-
tional and historical merits of the creator (Holy Stephen) always had to be meas-
ured, as well as the sometimes really heroic struggle of the noblemen's counties
against the foreign central power; the fact of the constitutional self-elimination of
the feudal society after 1848 had to be appreciated, the passive resistance and the
organisation of the opposition by the counties during the new absolutism had to be
taken into consideration, also, the achievements of the counties in the dualistic pe-
riod could not be completely neglected, either. Even the state socialist era could not
get away from the demand for a historical legitimacy: it was not by chance that the
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Hajdú, Zoltán: Territorial Questions of Transformation of the Hungarian Public Administration, 1990–2000.
In: Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
Communist constitution was announced on 20th August, the day of Holy Stephen.
Besides such a relationship, it would have been hard to neglect the county system
created by Holy Stephen, as a dominant spatial framework for the building of the
socialism.
The contemporary elite living and making policy in the counties was a real
(economic, political and cultural) elite in the major part of the history of the county
system, it was always faster to react than the majority of the society. (This elite was
almost always able to feature values which were acceptable for the succeeding
system.)
The flexibility of the county system cannot be understood without the relative
flexibility of the territory of the counties, which bore a relative stability and adapt-
ability at the same time. For the majority of the society, besides the national iden-
tity, the county identity was always decisive.
The transitions of public administration in Hungary
in the 1990s
The preparation of the reform of the socialist Hungarian public administration
started already in the mid-1980s, according to the conditions and expectations of
the state socialism of that time (Szoboszlai 1985, Verebelyi 1987). One of the basic
issues of the reform plans was the strengthening of the councils as local govern-
ments, the other was the re-shaping of the inner structure of the municipality-
county—central administration and its inner relationships.
From 1989, the prepared reform of the council system — according to the new
political conditions — became the process of the operation of a new public admini-
stration based on local governments. In the reform of the public administration,
there was a certain degree of continuity in the beginning of the systemic change,
but interruptions were more expressed.
After the free multi-party elections, at the modification of the Constitution in
1990, the objectives and values of public administration were redefined and its or-
ganisational structure was considerably transformed. According to the Constitution,
the subject to the right governance is the community of the constituents of the mu-
nicipality, who practice their self-government rights either indirectly, through the
body of representatives, or directly, by local referendum.
It is important and serves as a guarantee for local governments that the Consti-
tution laid down the theoretical principles of the system of local governments in a
separate chapter, and expanded constitutional regulation to the issues of compe-
tence and legal guarantees. (The Constitution is an act the modification of which
requires a two-thirds majority, i.e. a high degree of public political agreement.)
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Hajdú, Zoltán: Territorial Questions of Transformation of the Hungarian Public Administration, 1990–2000.
In: Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
At the 1990 modification of the Constitution — in spite of the sharp political and
professional debates — the administrative territorial division of Hungary was not
changed. The territory of the country is divided into the capital city, counties,
towns and villages, in the capital city districts operate, while districts can be cre-
ated in towns, as well.
In the definition of the Act on Local Governments in 1990, the basic values
were the traditions of local governments in Hungary and the requirements of the
Chart of European Local Governments. As this Act also needed a two-thirds ma-
jority, and the then government had to gain the support of the opposition, a consen-
sus of the different political powers was achieved in the starting regulation of the
local governments.
The basic approach of the Act is that local governments can freely accept tasks
and can do anything not prohibited or delegated to other organs by the Act. It is
only after the regulation allowing free action that the Act details the obligatory
tasks of local governments. (The financing of the obligatory tasks takes place from
the state budget.) The Act differentiated among the obligatory tasks and compe-
tences of the different levels of local governments (village, town, town with county
rank, capital city, capital city district, county government). The Act on Local Gov-
ernments regulated the county governments and the municipalities at the same
level, expressing that there is no sub-ordinate relationship between the different
local governments, there may be only different tasks.
At the formation of the public administration based on local governments, the
Act considered each settlement with village status as a village, and it only defined
the criteria of the creation of new villages. (The requirements of the creation of
new villages were not very strict, suggesting that the creators of the Act intended to
support the disintegration of the previously united villages.)
When defining the legal status of towns, the lawmakers created two categories,
in addition to the capital city (which are towns with county rank, and towns). The
basis of the definition of towns with county rank was demographic (population
above 50,000), but some functional elements also appeared (in their own authori-
ties, these towns have tasks and competences of county governments, as well). Ba-
sically, however, the administrative features of these towns were not defined. In
reality, the "county rank" could not be realised at town level. The county status can
mainly be seen in their inner administrative structures (they are entitled to create
districts in which they can set up offices). Towns with county rank — as co-ordinate
local governments — could not send representatives to the representative bodies of
the county.
Concerning towns, the Act on Local Governments stated that a village could
apply for its declaration as a town "if the use of the town title is justified by its de-
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Hajdú, Zoltán: Territorial Questions of Transformation of the Hungarian Public Administration, 1990–2000.
In: Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
velopment and regional role". Opposed to the Hungarian traditions, the Act only
talked about "title" in an indirect way, instead of "town status".
The Act on Local Governments made the association possibilities of the local
governments almost limitless, but did not introduce the institution of forced asso-
ciation. A special form of association is the institution of common notary districts,
which are created on voluntary basis for the joint completion of the administrative
tasks of smaller villages. (The Act promoted the creation of notary districts in the
case of villages with less than 1000 population, but did not make it obligatory, al-
lowed several passages.)
County governments had a horizontal, co-ordinate relationship with the munici-
palities. Their basic tasks is to carry out those tasks defined by the Act for which
the municipalities cannot be obliged. (Mainly public services of micro-regional or
regional character were defined as obligatory tasks.) For the first time in the history
of the Hungarian public administration, within the new system public administra-
tion built on local governments, the dominant role in local and territorial admini-
stration was assigned to the municipalities (towns or villages), and also for the first
time in the Hungarian history, the county governments were deliberately deprived
of their power. Counties, which had been the dominant units in Hungarian public
administration throughout history (feudalism, capitalism and state socialism), and
to a certain degree also the system of regional governments fell a victim to political
compromises.
An essential element of the new arrangement was the effort to separate local
governmental and state administration. The Act created the possibility of a large-
scale centralisation of the sectoral administrations by delegating a significant part
of the authorities to the deconcentrated organs of the state, increasing this way the
power of state administration in official affairs. (The system of the deconcentrated
organs of the state was born, the scope of their authorities mostly covered their
counties, but some deconcentrated organs also were set up whose authorities
reached beyond the border of the certain counties.)
The institution of the prefects of the republic was a new element in the Hun-
garian public administration. The prefects of the republic were responsible for the
administrative and legal supervision of the municipalities from 1990 to 1994, and
this institution divided Hungary into 8 regional units, which was disputed, in fact,
rejected by all professional analyses (Figure 1).
The new socialist-liberal government that started to work after the elections of
1994 amended the Act on Local Governments in several places, but most of these
amendments were only refinements and corrections coming from the four years of
operation of the local governments, and not fundamental changes. (The coalition
could have carried out basic transformations as well, as they had a two-thirds ma-
jority, but they did not do so.)
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Hajdú, Zoltán: Territorial Questions of Transformation of the Hungarian Public Administration, 1990–2000.
In: Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
concerning public administration. The reform demands of public administration
became more intensive during some political processes (elections, preparation of
government programmes). These reform concepts have some stable common junc-
tions (reform of the territorial division at county level, the solution of the specific
administrative problems of Budapest and its environment, definition of the con-
nections between the large towns and the counties, creation of inter-village rela-
tionships, etc.), but their dominant feature is the way they want to establish the
county level, in broader sense the regional level.
The reform debates of 1989-1991 were mainly determined by the relationship
of the county governments. Those who questioned the necessity of the county gov-
ernments supported either a settlement—district—region, or a settlement — town with
county rank — region formation (not always directly delimiting the territorial units).
The new act on local governments could hold back the debates on territorial prob-
lems for a short time, but of course could not seal them.
The most significant change compared to the previous decades is the fact that
the different political parties formulated their ideas about the territorial reform of
public administration as political and partly as a government programme. The re-
form plans primarily focused on political aspects, explaining why almost all politi-
cal parties modified their reform ideas of the units of public administration several
times, sometimes fundamentally, depending on their position in the Parliament.
Within the framework of the territorial reform, mainly the comprehensive theo-
retical and practical approaches of the issues of county and public administration
were dealt with. The analyses and findings of the national scale conference series
called "Are the Hungarian counties going to Europe?"  (Horvcith  et al. eds. 1992,
Hrubi et al. eds. 1993, Hrubi et al. eds. 1994), the "medium level" conference held
in Szekesfehervar in 1994  (Toth  et al. eds. I—V 1994) and in Budapest in 1996  (Fo-
garasi ed. 1996), and the comprehensive analysis of the Transdanubian Research
Institute of Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
(Aline Kovdcs  1994) raised the problems of the medium level in almost every as-
pect, although with different theoretical approaches.
A government commissioner has been dealing with the problems of the ration-
alisation of public administration and the organisation of scientific researches
within the Prime Minister's Office since 1994. Thus the reform attempts of the
public administration are an everyday subject at government level, too.
The summary called "The programme of the reform of public administration",
which systematically sums up a significant part of the researches carried out in the
1990s on public administration, has been submitted to the Government by the gov-
ernment commissioner and accepted by the Government, as the basis for further
works (Magyar Kozigazgatas, 1996. No. 11, pp. 641-671). The reform programme
stated 4 main objectives and 21 partial topics. (The four main objectives are: 1. the
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Hajdú, Zoltán: Territorial Questions of Transformation of the Hungarian Public Administration, 1990–2000.
In: Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
construction of the basic frameworks and institutions of the new-type system of
public administration should be completed; 2. the efficiency of administrative work
should increase, its quality improve, it should be more service-like; 3. a smaller,
simpler, faster and less expensive public administration should be achieved and 4.
public administration should become more legal, the external and internal supervi-
sion of public administration should become regular.)
The reform programme did nor directly talk about the need for a territorial re-
form either in the short or in the longer run. We can say that the versatile scientific
territorial reform concepts did not take shape in the government's ideas.
The problems of the transformation and reform of the deconcentrated regional
organs of the state administration (the number of which ranged between 34-38 in
the 1990s) was raised after 1994 in a different way than in the previous parliamen-
tary cycle. The Government continuously tried to decrease the number of decon-
centrated organs, to rationalise them and to integrate them at county level in the
framework of a single office of public administration, or to direct them jointly
within this framework.
All the problems of the relationship between the villages, the towns and the
counties, also, the county level and the regional level above the counties are still
alive now, as a matter of fact. The sharpest debates take place on the territorial re-
form of the counties and the possible solutions and necessity of regional division.
The future of the fragmented municipal administration
Hungary is a relatively small country (93,030 sq. km ), with a decreasing population
(the number of population decreased from 10,374 thousand in 1990 to 10,043 thou-
sand by 1. 1. 2000). The population density is around the European average (108
persons per sq. km). The density of settlements is high (3.4 settlements per 100 sq.
km), but it varies significantly across the large regions of Hungary. The proportion
of urban population is about 68%.
The system of the Hungarian settlements consists of towns and villages ex-
tremely different in size (Table 2). Among the Hungarian settlements, 1721 vil-
lages, i.e. 55% of all settlements are home to less than 1000 people, but only 7.8%
of the Hungarian population live in these villages.
Any approach to public administration must address this situation and find an
answer to the future administrative possibilities for more than half of the Hungarian
settlements. The answer is very important because without the long term change of
the structure of these basic units we cannot think in regional level.
Because of the decrease of the population in Hungary, which has been going on
for almost two decades now, the number of population decreases in most of the
settlements and the settlement categories, too. We have to be prepared for the
situation that the decrease of the population will continue in the future in the indi-
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Hajdú, Zoltán: Territorial Questions of Transformation of the Hungarian Public Administration, 1990–2000.
In: Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
vidual settlements and the groups of the settlements of similar size. This change
affects all aspects of the life and provision of these settlements, so public admini-
stration must face it, too.
Table 2
Distribution of settlements in Hungary 1" January 2000
Number of
Settlement size
Population
Ratio of
settlements
(thousand)
inhabitants, %
—
499
1033
283.7
2.8
500
—
999
688
501.6
5.0
1,000
—
1,999
657
945.7
9.4
2,000
—
4,999
483
1,449.0
14.4
5,000
—
9,999
138
959.1
9.5
10,000
—
19,999
76
1,077.4
10.7
20,000
—
49,999
39
1,123.9
11.2
50,000
—
99,999
12
749.7
7.5
100,000
—
199,999
7
938.1
9.3
200,000
—
300,000
1
203.6
2.0
Budapest
1
1,811.6
18.0
Hungary (total)
3135
10,043.2
100.0
Source: Magyar Statisztikai Zsebkonyv, 2000. Budapest, KSH, 2001.
The new public administration built on local governments strengthened the con-
sciousness of autonomy in the settlements, local governance and democracy be-
came synonyms at the settlement level. (The value of the system of public admini-
stration must not be radically rearranged several times within a short period of
time.)
This also means that we have to prepare, for political reasons, that the number
of local governments cannot be decreased radically in the short run. We have to
find, within the frameworks of the system which has been created, how the local
administration of the large number of small villages can be rationalised, without
disadvantaging their inhabitants. (The real issue is to find a solution for the di-
lemma between the democracy of the settlements, and professionalism and effi-
ciency.)
One possible solution for that, which society can accept, is to leave representa-
tion at the level of the settlements — ensuring the maximum functioning and experi-
ence of the democracy of representation —, at the same time organising administra-
tive work into districts, in a more conscious and powerful way than presently, ex-
panding the association frameworks of the notary districts.
In 1997, 1298 villages belonged to 492 notary districts, i.e. 48.3% of the vil-
lages carried out their administrative tasks in districts. On the average, 2.6 villages
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In: Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
belonged to one notary district, but even so the number of population belonging to
some of the notary districts is very low. In the counties which are dominated by
small villages, some notary districts with a large number of population (7 villages)
were created, and the notary district that has the largest number of associated set-
tlements has 12 villages. Given the present state of the transportation in Hungary
(frequency of bus or rail lies, high price of travel fees compared to the average in-
comes), the territories of the notary districts cannot be increased significantly.
The institution of the notary districts can be a kind of solution for small villages
in the long run, because it can handle the problem coming from the often different
expectations of the local governance at the settlement level (i.e. democracy for the
settlements) and of the professionalism of the public administration — rationality —
efficiency. (The institution of the notary districts enjoys the acceptance of the soci-
ety, since this institution was introduced by the first Hungarian act on the villages
in 1871, but the fluctuation of the settlements among the notary districts is consid-
erable every year.
Town county relationship and public administration
—
In the new system based on local governments, a co-ordinate relationship between
towns and villages was created, which means that there are no obligatory and
regulated local governmental administrative connections between the two types of
settlements. Based on the former connections and the present interests, notary dis-
tricts remained or were formed between several towns and their surrounding vil-
lages. In 1997, the seats of 27 notary districts were in towns or towns with county
rank.
The notion of town also changed as a consequence of the large-scale process of
declaring villages as towns, which created the group of the "ceremony towns",
which have a low number of population, weak functions or one-sided development
(in 1997, the population of 18 towns were below 5000). The connections of these
towns with their environment are much weaker than in the case of small towns with
well developed functions, in fact, the majority of these towns also depend on other
towns in many respects.
The functional content of the town-county connection changed considerably,
due to the systemic change. The formerly extremely important commuting de-
creased to a large extent, as it was the countryside labour force, more expensive for
the employers and with less average school education, that first became redundant.
(In some areas of Hungary, so-called "inactive settlements" appeared, where there
is a negligible number of employees and the population lives on pension, social and
unemployment benefit.)
The processing of the statistical data and the process analyses required the for-
mation of statistical registration units within the county level. The Central Statisti-
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2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
cal Office, carrying out centre—attraction zone surveys in 1991-1993, defined sev-
eral functional spatial divisions among the settlements. On 1. 1. 1994, the CSO in-
troduced a division of Hungary into 138 statistical micro-regions. The micro-
regions are the units of statistical data collection and processing, thus their delimi-
tation followed the county borders.
As bottom-up initiatives, different types of associations and development socie-
ties were made by the settlements, and the dominant feature in the beginning of the
process was that the associating villages neglected the towns dominant in the given
territories. Later the towns could gradually join the organisations of the villages in
their region (G. Fekete Bodolai 1995).
—
An economic boom can re-create — although presumably not at the previous
level — the commuting connections, once again strengthening other connections
between the two types of settlements. With respect to local governmental public
administration, there is no single basis on which public administration based on
towns could be constructed, although this idea was established by many experts in
history and still many experts of the Hungarian public administration support it.
In 1997, the CSO carried out a major modification of Hungary's division into
statistical micro-regions. The modified statistical micro-regions were built into the
institutional system of regional development. They have no administrative content,
but their role can be significant in regional development processes in the future.
With respect to the local governmental public administration, the association of
the governments of towns and villages, based on their common interests, gradually
expands, enabling in the longer term the formation of a bottom-up organised and
legitimised village-town partial administrative structure. (The 206 towns of these
days can cover the whole territory of Hungary in a topographical sense, as the av-
erage area that a town would have is 450 sq. km , with approximately 50,000
population.)
Territorial reform at the county level
According to several analysts, Hungarian politics and public administration missed
a historical chance in the early 1990s, when they did not take up the historical re-
form of the county administration, connected to the systemic change. (In that pe-
riod of time — connected to the new arrangement — the necessity of the territorial
reform could have been justified and the majority of the society persuaded to ac-
cept it.)
During the last decade, aside from the local governmental public administration,
the role of the county as a geographical framework and as a territorial unit did not
weaken, in fact, it strengthened in many respects. In many respects, the county sta-
bilised its regional positions.
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2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
One of the ideas was to integrate the cities and their surrounding settlements
into a common local government with common representative bodies and adminis-
trative offices. It was suggested that about two hundred city-counties should re-
place the functioning county structure. It was a scientific conception with the sup-
port of a political party.
The reform concept of public administration does not consider a territorial re-
form of the counties, at the same time there are bottom-up initiatives to "trans-
plant" some settlements to the neighbouring county, which undermines the present
county borders. The reform of the counties is not only a political issue but also a
social and emotional one.
Dilemmas of the regional public administration
within the new conditions
The problems of regional (above county level) public administration evoked strong
professional and political disagreements in 1990-1994, with the introduction of the
system of the prefects of the republic and with then its elimination.
In some deconcentrated state organs, there is a historical tradition of a network
consisting of regional units, which integrate certain groups of counties. Regional
public administration divided and still divides both professional and social public
opinion in the question whether there is a need for administrative regions as a local
governmental level (Horwith 1996). Besides that it is only of less importance how
many regions can be formed.
The need to create a regional public administration in local governmental ad-
ministration is not supported by any political power at the moment. This does no
mean, however, that we should neglect this possibility in the longer run.
The problems of the above-county regional units was brought up in a new way
during the construction of the institutional and territorial organisation of regional
development. Also, in connection with the EU accession, the need to build out a
regional statistical classification system (NUTS 1-5) emerges (Faluvegi 1997).
The most fundamental question is how the Hungarian urban-regional structure
can be made parallel to the statistical system used by the EU. Because of the sup-
port policy of the EU, the definition of the NUTS 2 units (i.e. the regions) gained a
special importance. The different proposals for the division evoked strong and
emotional debates both in professional and political circles. The accepted statistical
division can become a dominant framework of regional development in the long
run (Figure 2).
100

Hajdú, Zoltán: Territorial Questions of Transformation of the Hungarian Public Administration, 1990–2000.
In: Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
chic relation existed between the municipal and the county governments any
longer. The county governments in reality only had the function of maintaining
meso-level institutions.
The county as a territorial unit, framework was not depreciated so much, be-
cause the strengthening and modernisation of the special administration of the state
was based on the county system in most of the cases.
After 1994, a careful extension process of the functions of the county govern-
ments started, but we cannot talk about any kind of "county renaissance". In the
second half of the 1990s, the debates about the county system and the counties
reached a new phase, in connection with the EU accession efforts and the building
out of the institutional system of regional development.
The new local governmental public administration system stood the economic,
social and political trials of the decade of the systemic change and became ac-
cepted by the society. At the same time, significant differences appeared among its
partial structures. While the regulation and operation of the municipal local gov-
ernments is essentially accepted, despite some minor debates (towns with county
rank, inner administration of Budapest), the problem of the county governments
has almost continuously been in the centre of political and professional debates.
The medium level (let it either be a county or a region) evokes sharp debates
because this is the level where municipal governments are afraid of the restriction
of their own obtained positions, also, the central power does not want to create a
strong competition for itself. The centre has been interested in the recent decade in
a system of deconcentrated organs as the dominant factor and integrator of the me-
dium level.
The institutional system of regional development, the preparation for the EU
accession has put regional problems in a new light. If NUTS 2 statistical regions
strengthen as a spatial framework of regional development, they can have direct
consequences in the public administration in the long run.
The debates on public administration have already started again following the
elections of 1998, both in connection with the central administration and the me-
dium level. Probably the same old dispute will go on, in slightly new conditions,
with some new actors.
102

Hajdú, Zoltán: Territorial Questions of Transformation of the Hungarian Public Administration, 1990–2000.
In: Regional Challenges of the Transition in Bulgaria and Hungary. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
2002. 86–103. p. Discussion Papers. Special
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