It was thanks to the organisers’ outstanding performance among others that a record number of Hungarian local authorities registered on the international website of the one-week campaign this year. There were 129 local authorities altogether to join the series of events in September, whereby Hungary came third among the 47 registering countries, Minister of State for Infrastructure Pál Völner said in Budapest on 10 December, 2013.

The biggest transport and environmental campaign in Europe held on 16-22 September every year offers varied programmes so as to draw attention to the advantages of environmentally friendly transport options. The Mobility Week organised for the 12th time in Hungary this year is aimed to contribute to establishing a healthier and safer urban environment.

In addition to the professional support provided within the framework of the national coordination of the event, the Ministry of National Development awards, as a tradition, the organisers of the most effective and ingenious programmes for their useful contribution. At the closing ceremony of this year’s Mobility Week, the Ministry presented the local organisers Anikó Babos (Győr), Piroska Bódi-Nagy (Pécel), Katalin Dékány Szalai (Dévaványa), Vanda Egervári-Cziotka (Hévíz) and András Kanyó (Fehérgyarmat) as well as the staff of the five best performing local authorities in the organisation of local programmes (Ebes, Eger, Gyula, Mórahalom, Mosonmagyaróvár) with bicycles as an acknowledgement. Representatives of another twenty local authorities with outstanding performance were handed a certificate.

In his address Pál Völner, who handed out the awards, praised the awardees for their commitment; they, with their creativity and hard work, set a good example for people in other municipalities as well. The success of the Mobility Week and Car-Free Day in Hungary was to a significant part due to the fact that organisers had been able to address people of all ages, he pointed out. The countries participating at the international summary conference and the management in Brussels, too, had expressed their acknowledgement of this year’s Hungarian campaign, the Minister of State reported. It was only in Austria and Spain with a higher number of registering local authorities; with its third place, Hungary came ahead of all the other countries.

(Ministry of National Development Communications Department)