Ferenc Gyurcsány
- The native form of this personal name is Gyurcsány Ferenc. This article uses the Western name order.
| Ferenc Gyurcsány | |
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6th Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary
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| In office 29 September 2004 – 14 April 2009 (4 years, 202 days) |
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| President | Ferenc Mádl László Sólyom |
| Preceded by | Péter Medgyessy |
| Succeeded by | Gordon Bajnai |
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Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports
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| In office 18 May 2003 – 3 October 2004 |
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| Prime Minister | Péter Medgyessy |
| Preceded by | György Jánosi |
| Succeeded by | post abolished |
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| Born | 4 June 1961 Pápa, Hungary |
| Political party | MSZP |
| Spouse(s) | Klára Dobrev |
Ferenc Gyurcsány (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈfɛrɛnts ˈɟurtʃaːɲ] (
listen); born in Pápa, 4 June 1961) is a Hungarian politician. He was the sixth Prime Minister of Hungary from 2004 to 2009.
He was nominated to take that position on 25 August 2004 by the Hungarian Socialist Party (the MSZP; in fact not Socialist but Social Democratic), after Péter Medgyessy resigned due to a conflict with the Socialist Party's coalition partner. Gyurcsány was elected Prime Minister on 29 September 2004 in a parliamentary vote (197 yes votes, 12 no votes, with most of the opposition in Parliament not voting). He led his coalition to victory in the parliamentary elections in 2006, securing another term as Prime Minister. He has been in office for the longest period in the history of the 3rd Hungarian Republic. His first rise to power was the result of a coalition conflict. His legitimacy was permanently questioned by opposition parties based on the fact that he withholding crucial information about the actual budget deficit in his 2006 re-election campaign[1]. He is also criticised for using derogatory terms for his own country.[2] Even though he's been trying to relativise this fact ever since.[3]
On 24 February 2007, he was elected as the leader of the MSZP, taking 89% of the vote. On 21 March 2009 Gyurcsány announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister.[4][5] He stated that he is a hindrance to further economic and social reforms.[6] President László Sólyom stated that instead of a short term transational government ruling only until the 2010 elections, early elections should be held.[7] On 28 March Gyurcsány resigned from his position as party chairman, he was the leader of MSZP between 2007-2009.[8] A minister under Gyurcsány, Gordon Bajnai became the nominee of MSZP for the post of prime minister in March 2009[9] and he became Prime Minister on April 14.
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Early years
Ferenc Gyurcsány was born in Hungary. He attended the Apáczai Csere János High School in Budapest for two years, then he left to his hometown Pápa to graduate. Ferenc Gyurcsány studied as a teacher and obtained his B.Sc. in 1984 from University of Pécs. Then he studied economics at the same institution, getting his degree in 1990.
In 1981 he assumed function in the KISZ, the Organisation of Young Communists, where he mostly handled organizing student programs at the beginning. Between 1984 and 1988 he was the vice president of the organisation's committee in Pécs. Then between 1988 and 1989 he was the president of the central KISZ committee of universities and colleges. After the political change in 1989 he became vice-president of the organisation's short-lived quasi successor, the DEMISZ.
From 1990 onwards, he transferred from the public to the private sector, working for CREDITUM Financial Consultant Ltd. until 1992, serving as director of EUROCORP International Finance Inc. in 1992. Gyurcsany then took the position of CEO at Altus Ltd., a holding company of which he was owner, from 1992-2002 and thereafter as Chairman of the Board[10]. By 2002, he was listed as the 50th richest person in Hungary [11], an oligarch who earned most of his money by leveraging on his ex-communist contacts to make contracts to transfer government property into his private property.
Return to politics
Ferenc Gyurcsány returned to politics in 2002 as the head strategic advisor of Péter Medgyessy, the previous PM. From May 2003 until September 2004 Gyurcsány was a minister responsible for sports, youth and children.
He became the president of the MSZP in Győr-Moson-Sopron county in January 2004, serving until September 2004. In the summer of that same year it seemed that there were larger problems in his relationship with then current PM Péter Medgyessy, so he resigned as minister. In a week, problems in the coalition led to the resignation of Medgyessy, and MSZP voted Gyurcsány to become Prime Minister of Hungary as he was acceptable for the coalition partner, SZDSZ.
Gyurcsány was reappointed Prime Minister after the 2006 parliamentary elections, with his coalition taking 210 of the available 386 parliamentary seats, and making him the first Prime Minister to keep the office after a general election since 1990.
On 24 February 2007 he became the leader of his party (being the only candidate for the post) gaining 89% of the vote.
Since his 2006 election victory he has introduced austerity measures to tackle Hungary's budget deficit that had grown to become 10% of the GDP by the end of 2006. These austerity measures have been criticized by the main opposition party Fidesz on the one hand as being too harsh on the people, on the other hand by conservative economists for not reducing spending enough on social benefits, including pensions. Ferenc Gyurcsány has been the first prime minister since the fall of communism to try to introduce a health care reform in order to rationalize and modernize the national health care system. His efforts for a renewed and more efficient health care however, have been undermined mainly by his own party, as many Socialist Party members regard this reform as a threat to the communist era achievement of free and equal health care service to all.
Audio recording resulting in riots
On 17 September 2006, an audio recording surfaced, allegedly from a closed-door meeting of the Prime Minister's party MSZP, held on 26 May 2006, shortly after MSZP won the election. On the recording, Gyurcsány admitted "we have obviously been lying for the last one and a half to two years." Despite public outrage, the Prime Minister refused to resign, and a series of demonstrations started near the Hungarian Parliament, swelling from 2,000 to about 8,000 demonstrators calling for the resignation of Gyurcsány and his government for several weeks. The Prime Minister admitted the authenticity of the recording.[12]
On 1 October, the governing party suffered a landslide defeat in the local municipal elections.[13] On the eve of the elections, before the results were known, President László Sólyom gave a speech in which he said that the solution to the situation is in the hands of the majority in Parliament.[14]
Vote of confidence
As a Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány is a strong advocate of the South Stream pipeline project, which is aimed to supply Russian gas directly to EU, bypassing transit countries such as Ukraine. He signed the contract in Moscow just a week before popularal election at Hungary, which showed around 80% of the votes were against the government reforms.
On 6 October, Gyurcsány won a vote of confidence in Parliament, 207-165, with no coalition MP voting against him. The vote was public.[15] Gyurcsany has been called to step down several times after this incident.
Resignation
On 21 March 2009 Gyurcsány announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister.[4][16] He stated that he is a hindrance to further economic and social reforms.[17] Gyurcsány asked his party to find a new candidate for prime minister in two weeks.[18] President László Sólyom stated that instead of a short term transational government ruling only until the 2010 elections, early elections should be held. [7] In the search for PM György Surányi became the frontrunner candidate for the post however on the 26th of March he pulled out of the race saying he would not take the job. [19] On 28 March Gyurcsány resigned from his position as party chairman, he was the leader of MSZP between 2007-2009. [20]
Personal life
Ferenc Gyurcsány lives in his third marriage. He has two sons (Péter and Bálint) from his second marriage with Edina Bognár, and two children (Anna and Tamás) from his third marriage. His current spouse is Klára Dobrev, whose maternal grandfather Antal Apró was Hungary's Minister of Industry in the 1950s–60s.
He got his nickname "Fletó" from one of his teachers.
Criticism
Wealth
The origin of his wealth is regularly questioned by the media and political opposition. The weekly paper HVG writes about a biography of Gyurcsány: "[it] concludes that talent played a greater role than corruption in Gyurcsány's success. We have to question this claim. Not just because former functionaries are massively overrepresented among Gyurcsány's business partners, but also because, despite his enormous talent for business, Gyurcsány would never have got where he is today without making use of the contacts and support base of the former state party." [21] József Debreczeni, the biographer in question, originally reached the conclusion "regarding party connections and performance, the latter has been more important".[22]
Opposition MP Péter Szijjártó, as the head of a committee set up to investigate the origins of Gyurcsány's wealth, stated in his report that one of Gyurcsány's companies leased the former vacation site of the Hungarian government in Balatonőszöd and rented the site back to a state-owned company so that the rent paid by the government covered exactly the leasing fee during the first two and a half years of the ten-year lease term (1994-2004).[23]
A person named "Gyurcsányi" was mentioned by Attila Kulcsár, the main defendant in the high-profile "K&H Equities" money laundering scandal in Hungary.[24] The prime minister denied he had any connections with the case.
Other
He often displays himself in the role of anti-fascist politician, who is strongly against the Hungarian radicalism and anti-semitism. However, he is the subject of criticism by his political opponents for the luxury villa of Rózsadomb he lives and which is now the property of his recent wife having taken away from a jew family twice; first it was when Hungary was under the rule of Arrow Cross Party and then during the time of communist dictatorship of Mátyás Rákosi.
On 2 February 2005, at the birthday party of the Hungarian Socialist Party, for the sake of a joke, Gyurcsány referred to the players of the Saudi national football team as terrorists. Later he apologized, but the kingdom recalled its ambassador from Hungary for a time.[25][26]
During the 2006 general election campaign, a video appeared where Gyurcsány danced as Hugh Grant in Love Actually.[27] According to government officials, the spokesperson of the government asked Gyurcsány to dance, as they re-made most parts of the film as a special gift for the wedding of spokesman András Batiz. Opposition claimed that the video was made public on purpose, as part of the election campaign, to gain popularity for the PM among young adults.
After his return to politics, Gyurcsány was at first tight-lipped on his religious affiliation, leading many to assume that he is an atheist . In an interview aired on TV2 during the 2006 parliamentary election campaign, Gyurcsány said that as a teenager, he "took part in confirmation for about two years" and even considered becoming a priest.[28] Since confirmation can only be taken once, some regarded this claim as a giveaway that he was not telling the truth, while others such as Catholic bishop Endre Gyulai supposed he meant he took part in preparations for a confirmation.[29]
In connection with the unrest fuelled by his speech, he has been criticised in The Economist for "turning a blind eye to police brutality".[30]
On 2009 January 13, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Managing Director of the IMF, travelled to Budapest to ask Gyurcsány about their agreement made in October, regarding the stabilization of Hungarian government spending.
Gazprom
As a Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány is a strong advocate of the South Stream pipeline project, which is aimed to supply Russian gas directly to EU, bypassing transit countries such as Ukraine. He signed the contract in Moscow just week before a referendum at Hungary, which showed around 80% of the votes were against the government reforms. There are rumors that Gyurcsány would become the head of the new company in a similar manner like Gerhard Schröder became the head of Nord Stream AG after stepping down.[31]
References
- ↑ Jury says statistics should have been published
- ↑ Offensive expressions of Gyurcsány's speech
- ↑ Gyurcsány relativising his obscenity.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Hungary’s Premier Offers to Resign
- ↑ Hungarian PM offers to step down
- ↑ 'Obstacle' Hungary PM to resign
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Hungary's president favors early elections
- ↑ PM Gyurcsany resigns post as Socialist Party chairman
- ↑ Hungary Picks New Candidate for Premier
- ↑ Ferenc Gyurcsány Hungarian Embassy, Brasília
- ↑ 41-től 60-ig Origo
- ↑ Ha kell, a Magyar Rádió elé vonulnak a tüntetők HírTV
- ↑ http://www.valasztas.hu/outroot/onkdina/g12.htm
- ↑ Sólyom: Most az Országgyűlésnek van cselekvési lehetősége, Index, 2006-10-01
- ↑ Gyurcsany wins vote of confidence, Financial Times, 6 October 2006.
- ↑ Hungarian PM offers to step down
- ↑ 'Obstacle' Hungary PM to resign
- ↑ Hungary's PM to quit amid tumbling popularity
- ↑ SCENARIOS-What next as Hungary seeks new prime minister?
- ↑ PM Gyurcsany resigns post as Socialist Party chairman
- ↑ Not as good as the Lakatos, 19 June 2006, Heti Világgazdaság
- ↑ Debreczeni, József (2006). Az új miniszterelnök (The New Prime Minister) (Hungarian). Osiris Kiadó. ISBN 9633898447.
- ↑ Szijjártó tíz tétele Gyurcsány gazdagodásáról, 8 November 2005, Index.hu
- ↑ Nerves Shredded Over Scandal Evidence Shredding Pestiside.hu
- ↑ Jegyzékben tiltakoznak 'a szaúdi terroristák' Gyurcsánynál - index.hu
- ↑ Nyúlik a vita az "arab terroristákról" Magyar Hírlap
- ↑ Hungarian PM appears on Internet as Hugh Grant, eircom.net
- ↑ "Mokka", TV2, 2006-03-26
- ↑ Napi sajtószemle, Magyar Kurír, 2006-03-28 (Hungarian)
- ↑ Europe.view, The Economist, 4 January 2007
- ↑ Magyar Nemzet: "Gyurcsány elindult a schröderi úton?", 21 March 2008
External links
- The Official Website of the Prime Minister of Hungary (only a few facts in English yet)
- Hungarian PM appears on Internet as Hugh Grant
- The blog of Ferenc Gyurcsány (Hungarian)
- His biography (Hungarian)
- The 100 richest people in Hungary, 2002., origo.hu. (Original URL) (Hungarian)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by György Jánosi |
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports 2003 – 2004 |
Succeeded by post abolished |
| Preceded by Péter Medgyessy |
Prime Minister of Hungary 2004 – 2009 |
Succeeded by Gordon Bajnai |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by István Hiller |
Chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party 2007 – 2009 |
Succeeded by Ildikó Lendvai |
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