Warsaw is a city of freedom, it will not become Budapest

Rafael Traskowsky, Warsaw's newly elected liberal-rightwing mayor was inaugurated on Thursday morning after winning the first round of the vote against the candidate of Poland's ruling party, PiS, the party that governs Poland much in the style of Hungarian leadership.

Traskowsky took the office over from his fellow party-member Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, who lead the city for the past 12 years. According to information from 444.hu, the new mayor said the following in his speech:

Much has happened in the past twelve years. Warsaw became a global metropolis, and citizens of Warsaw are now full-fledged citizens of Europe as well. This is a city of free people. Nobody can turn it into Budapest or Moscow. Warsaw is based on the values of tolerance and freedom. This is guaranteed by the rule of law. The people of Warsaw are brave and do not buy into fearmongering or corruption. They are not afraid of strangers and immigrants. The people of Warsaw understand what freedom means.

This article is the translation of the original published in Hungarian.