Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 8 October 2025

Committee on European Union Affairs

Engagement with Representatives of the European Committee of the Regions

2:00 am

Ms Kata Tütt:

Just to give one comparison: Spain. How can one compare it? I found a way. Some of the public spending is distributed between different levels. In Spain, if all public spending is 100%, the local government - the cities and towns - are spending approximately 10% or 15%, the regional level 40% to 44% and the last is the government. The regional level has healthcare, education, economy and care; it has almost everything. The president of some regions is like a prime minister.

If I compare Vienna and Budapest, similar sized cities that historically and culturally are super close, the size of Vienna's budget is 16-fold that of Budapest's. They are similar sized cities but are so different. The municipal council manages everything and has a lot of power, even its councillors have a lot of power. It is a full-time job. It makes it really resilient. It makes it-----

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